
SERGEANT HART NAILING THE COLORS TO THE FLAGSTAFF OF FORT SUMTER. 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION 



THE FIRST PERIOD OF 

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION 

FROM 
ITS OUTBREAK TO THE CLOSE OF 1862 



BY 

/ 
CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN 

AUTHOR OF "THE BOYS OF '76" "THE STORY OF LIBERTY" "OLD TIMES IN THE 
COLONIES" "BUILDING THE NATION" &C. 



Illustrated 




NEW YOKK 
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 

18S8 



Copyright, 1887, by Harper & Brothers. 
All rights reserved. 






/ ■ 

'/. 7 



S>eMcate5 

TO THE 

SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THOSE WHO FOLLOWED THE DRUM-BEAT 
THAT THE NATION' MIGHT LIVE 



INTRODUCTION. 



NEARLY a third of a century has rolled away since the outbreak of 
the war between the northern and southern sections of the United 
States, known in history as the War of the Rebellion. Since then a gen- 
eration has come upon the active stage of life. One-fourth of the inhab- 
itants of the United States at the jiresent time have no personal knowledge 
of the Avar, and to fully one-half it is but a dim and fading memorj'-. The 
conflict was one of the mightiest of all time, waged between people hav- 
ing a common ancestry, speaking the same language, living three-fourths 
of a century under the same flag, attaining an exalted position among the 
nations, and looking forward to a great and unexampled destiny. 

In 1860 thirty-three States composed the United States of America. 
Of these, fifteen permitted tlie holding of slaves. The slave-holders living 
in tlie States which produced cotton brought about the secession of their 
respective States from the Union, seized forts, arsenals, cannon, ships, and 
other property belonging to the United States. South Carolina was the 
first to withdraw, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, 
Louisiana, and Texas, which united to form a Confederacy of States, elect- 
ing Jefferson Davis President. ISTorth Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and 
Virginia soon after withdrew from the Union and joined the Confederacy. 
The slave-holders put forth as a justification of their action the claim that 
some of the original and reserved rights of the slave-holding States were 
not protected under the Constitution. Of the seceding States, Virginia, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia took part in the formation 
of the Constitution. Alabama and Mississippi were originally a part of 
Georgia, and claimed that any original right that belonged to Georgia 
inhered to tliem upon their admission. Florida, Louisiana, and Arkansas 
had been created from territory purchased from Spain and France after 
the formation of the Constitution, and could put forth no such plea; 
neither could Tennessee, which had been created from territory owned 
by the L^nited States. Texas had been annexed. These five States last 



viii INTKODUCTION. 

named had accepted tlie Constitution without any expressed reservation. 
They severally joined in the war against the United States. 

As the years go by, it is" seen that the upholding of the " rights " of 
the States as against those of the United States was not the real and pri- 
mal object which the leaders of the Kebellion had in view, but that their 
true and genuine purpose was to arrest the progress of free labor, the de- 
velopment of free institutions, and the growing power of the people j that 
it was an attempt to overthrow the democratic government founded by 
the people and establish instead an aristocratic government of the few 
over the many ; that it was, in reality, a conflict between two civiliza- 
tions — one the development of free, and the other of slave labor. 

The conflict was marked by three distinct periods. The first includes 
the conspiracy to bring about the disruption of the Union, withdrawal of 
the cotton-producing States, formation of the Confederacy, seizure of prop- 
erty belonging to the United States, bombardment of Fort Sumter, gather- 
ing of great armies ; the period of enthusiasm, expectation, egotism, brag- 
gadocio, and ignorance in both sections ; of mortification throughout the 
North and exultation in the South over the issue of the first great battle, 
followed in the North by the sober second thought, the rise of true patri- 
otism, voluntary enlistment in the armies, the resolute determination that, 
cost what it might of life or treasure, the Government of the people 
should not perish ; the enrolment of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Dela- 
ware, which held slaves, also a large portion of the people in \Yest Vir- 
ginia and East Tennessee, on the side of the Union ; the success of the 
army and navy in the West, on the Mississippi and the Atlantic coast ; 
skilled labor putting forth its en|rgy to arm, equip, feed, and clothe the 
million of men in arms — this, with defeat and disaster, incapacity and 
mismanagement, the ebbing of the cause of the Union to low-water mark 
at the close of 1862 ; the gradual awakening of the people of the North 
to the comprehension that slavery, instead of being an element of weak- 
ness, was a source of strength to the Confederacy ; that slaves were con- 
structino; fortifications and tillino- the soil while the white men were 
fighting the battles, and that to preserve the Union slavery must be ex- 
terminated ; followed by the immortal Act of Emancipation by President 
Lincoln. 

The second period includes the year 1863 — the victories of Gettys- 
burg, Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and other battles ; 
opening of the Mississippi ; the turning of the tide ; the results of the 
Proclamation of Emancipation ; the enrolment of slaves as soldiers of the 
Republic. 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

The third period includes the months from the appointment of Ulysses 
S. Grant commander-in-chief of the armies of the Union to the final break- 
ing up of the Confederacy and the re-establishment of the authority of the 
United States. 

" The Drum-beat of the Xation " treats of the first period of the con- 
flict between free and slave labor. In writing it I have endeavored to pre- 
sent briefly and imj)artially the cause, scope, progress, and meaning of the 
war by grouping the leading events. I have endeavored to lay aside prej- 
udice, to see the questions at issue as the peoj)le of the seceding States saw 
them, duly recognizing their sincerity of conviction and adherence to the 
idea that the authority of the State w^as higher than that of the Nation. I 
have endeavored to do full justice to the endurance of hardship and brav- 
ery of the soldiers of the Confederacy in battle, and to recognize the great 
ability of the ofiicers who commanded them. 

In the month of May, 1861, I began my labors as correspondent of the 
Boston Journal. It was my privilege to witness many of the great bat- 
tles, to have personal acquaintance with nearly all the generals command- 
ing the armies of the Union, and with those prominent in legislative and 
executive affairs. Since the war I have had personal acquaintance with 
many of the generals who commanded in the Confederate armies. 

History is valuable only as it is truthful. It is comparatively easy for 
an historian to comprehend the general plan and design of a campaign, 
but there is no task surrounded with greater difficulties than that of ascer- 
taining the sequence of events in a great battle. The commander-in-chief 
of a large army sees but little of what takes place upon a battle-field. 
Commanders of corps, divisions, brigades, and regiments can have but par- 
tial knowledge of the vai'ious movements. The story of the private is his 
individual experience. A correspondent having the freedom of the army, 
if faithful to his trust, has exceptional opportunities for observation. Offi- 
cial reports, in the very nature of things, can present but one side of a bat- 
tle. Human nature makes the most of success, and is ever ready to give 
a reason for defeat. The victor glorifies the part performed by his army ; 
the vanquished ever finds extenuating circumstances for his defeat. Offi- 
cial reports and narratives written by officers in command are not always 
the truth of history. From my note-books of the battle-field, from official 
reports, later narratives, from a great mass of material, I have endeavored 
to arrive at the probable facts. 

The statistical record during the years 1861 and 1862 gives seven hun- 
dred and twenty engagements between the opposing forces, most of them 
between small parties, and of little account in a history. Only those 



X INTRODUCTION. 

events which have been fruitful of result, or given direction to campaigns, 
have been considered. Tlie chief object of this volume will be attained 
if those who have come upon the stage since the close of the war, by a 
perusal of its pages, are enabled to comprehend the meaning of the great 
historic drama — what this Government of the people has cost and what 
it is worth, what their fathers accomplished for the continuance of the 
nation, the wiping out of slavery, and the welfare of the human race 
through all coming time. 

Chakles Caeleton Coffin. 
Boston, September, 1887. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PACK 

Causes which brought about the War 1 

CHAPTER II. 
The Conspiracy 23 

CHAPTER III. 

The Uprising of the People 48 

CHAPTER IV. 

First Weeks of the War 64 

CHAPTER V. 

The First Great Battle 86 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Close of 1861 104 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Beginning op 1863 128 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Spring of 1862 159 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Battle of Shiloh 196 

CHAPTER X. 

New Orleans and Memphis 218 



xii CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XI. 

PAGE 

The PENiNSUiiAR Campaign 236 



CHAPTER XII. 
Confederate Manassas Campaign 277 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Ina'ASion op Maryland 298 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Invasion op Kentxjcky 334 

CHAPTER XV. 

Crumbling op the Confederate Corner-stone 364 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Fredericksburg 386 

CHAPTER XVII. 
From Nashville to Stone Rin'er 415 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
On the Mississippi 443 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Close of 1863 457 



INDEX 465 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Sergeant Hart nailing the Colors to the 
Flag-staff of Fort Sumter. . . .Frontispiece 

Henry Clay 7 

John C. Calhoun 9 

Andrew Jackson 11 

Daniel Webster 13 

John Brown 18 

Harper's Ferry 20 

Abraham Lincoln 25 

Lincoln's Home .... 27 

Built from the Ruins 31 

Major Robert Anderson 33 

General John A. Dix 37 

Facsimile of General John A. Dix's De- 
spatch 38 

Map of Pensacola 39 

Jefferson Davis 40 

Map of Charleston Harbor 42 

General Beauregard 45 

The Pig 50 

The Massachusetts Sixth Attacked when 

marching through Baltimore 53 

Fortress Monroe 58 

Burning Norfolk Navy Yard 59 

The New York Seventh Regiment march- 
ing down Broadway 61 

General Scott 65 

Richmond. (From a Sketch made in 1861.) 67 

F. P. Blair 71 

Night March into Virginia. (From a 

Sketch made at the time.) 73 

Benjamin F. Butler 76 

General Butler declaring the Negro " Con- 
traband of War " 79 

Map of Bethel 81 



PAGE 

General McClellan 82 

Map of Rich Mountain 83 

General Lj^on 84 

Map of Bull Run 87 

General McDowell 88 

General J. E. Johnston 90 

General Longstreet 92 

The Battle of Bull Run 93 

Position at 3 A. M 96 

Robinson's House 98 

Stonewall Jackson 99 

Confederate Position 5 p. m 100 

Missouri and Arkansas 109 

Defence of Lexington 113 

Battle of Ball's Bluff.— Death of Colonel 

Baker 115 

Map of Ball's Bluff 117 

House in which General Grant was Born 119 

Map of Battle of Belmont 120 

Battle of Belmont 121 

South Carolina Coast 124 

General Grant on his Horse going on 

board the Steamer 125 

Captui-e of the Port Royal Forts 127 

The Campaign in Tennessee 129 

General James A. Garfield 130 

Map of Middle Creek 131 

A Gunboat of the Mississippi 136 

Admiral Foote 138 

Fort Henry 139 

The Gunboats at Fort Henry 141 

Forts Henry and Donelson 144 

Attack of the Gunboats on Fort Donel- 
son 147 

Fort Donelson, February 14, 1862 150 



XIV 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Map of Fort Donelson, as Invested by 
General Grant ; based on the Official 

Map of General J. B. McPIierson 151 

Pea Ridge 161 

Map of Pea Ridge 162 

Battle of Pea Ridge 165 

John Ericsson 167 

Hampton Roads 169 

Map of the North Carolina Coast 173 

General Burnside 175 

Bombardment of Roanoke Island 176 

Henry A. Wise 177 

Map of Roanoke Island . . 178 

Judali P. Benjamin 179 

Landing at Newbern 181 

Encampment of the Army ... 183 

Bombardment of Island No. 10 187 

Map of Island No. 10 189 

The Carondelet passing the Batteries . . . 191 

Map of the Shiloh Campaign 196 

The Battle of Shiloh 197 

Albert Sidney Johnston. 198 

General W. T. Sherman 201 

Shiloh Church 203 

Lew. Wallace 203 

The Battle of Shiloh 213 

Pittsburg Landing. (From a Photo- 
graph, May, 1862.) 216 

The Mississippi below New Orleans . . . 219 

Forts of the Mississippi 221 

Fort Pillow 227 

Naval Engagement at Memphis, June 6, 

1862 232 

Closing Scene of the Naval Battle before 
Memphis. (From a Sketch made at 

the time.) 235 

The Peninsular Campaign ! . 239 

How the Union Army was Welcomed . . 241 

Map of Williamsburg 244 

Vicinity of Richmond 251 

Fair Oaks 253 

General Robert E. Lee 257 

Mechanicsville, 1862 259 

Watts's House 260 

The Battle of Gaines's Mills 261 

New Cold Harbor, 1862 263 

C^aptain Reed and Son 267 

Diagram of the Retreat 268 



PAGE 

Malvern Hill 273 

The Gunboats at Malvern Hill 275 

Harrison's Landing 277 

Map of Cedar Mountain 282 

The Sortie of Lee 287 

Map of Gainesville 292 

Confederates Crossing the Potomac .... 299 

South Mountain 302 

Battle of South Mountain. Franklin's 
Corps Storming Crampton's Pass .... 309 

Map of Antietam 317 

Scene by Rail -fence, Antietam 320 

Antietam 323 

The Sunken Road 328 

Burnside Bridge '. 330 

Scene at the Sunken Road 333 

Cavalry Engagement 337 

The Sortie of Bragg 341 

Map of luka 347 

Map of Corinth 353 

The Battle of Corinth 357 

Map of Perryville 359 

Battle of Perryville 361 

Effects of Emancipation Proclamation. 365 
Exchanging Rags for U. S. Army Cloth- 
ing 387 

Burning Engine-house at Chambersburg 391 
Attack on Fredericksburg. — The For- 
lorn Hope Scaling the Hill 399 

Burnard's House, Fredericksburg 403 

Doubleday's Skirmishers, Fredericks- 
burg 405 

Map of Fredericksburg and Vicinity. . . 408 

Marye House 409 

Sergeant Pluuket 412 

On the March in a Storm 419 

Beginning of the Battle 422 

The Battle of Stone River 425 

Scene in the Afternoon at Stone River. 435 

Close of the Battle 439 

General Breckinridge 441 

Battle of Baton Rouge 447 

Gunboats at the Battle of Baton Rouge 448 

Destruction of the Arkansas 449 

From Memphis to Vicksburg 450 

Foraging Parties 452 

The Chickasaw Bayou 454 

Christmas-day on the Rappahannock . . 461 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



CHAPTER I. 

CAUSES WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT THE WAR. 

''I'^HE war between tlie iiovtliern and southern sections of the United 
-■- States, whicli began in April, 1861, and lasted till April, 1865, was a 
conflict of ideas and institutions. The moral and political causes which 
brought it about are so many that I think of tlieni as I think of the riv- 
ulets springing from far-off mountain ranges, which united become a 
mighty river, broadening and deepening as it flows to the sea. The fount- 
ain-heads are far away. 

In those days when Rome was mistress of the world, the Angles or 
Saxons of Germany lived in villages which were called tuns.. Each man 
had the right of voting in tun meeting, which was held at the moot, or 
meeting- place. The meeting was a parliament in which the majority 
ruled. Each tun was indej^endent and sovereign, but ever ready to unite 
with other tuns against a common enemy. From the tuns along the 
shores of the Baltic Sea a band of Angles sailed across the German Ocean 
and landed in Britain, gaining a foothold on the" banks of the Thames. 
They carried to Britain individual freedom, the organizing faculty, and 
obedience to the will of the majority. They conquered the country, mak- 
ing it Angle-land, or England. 

We come down to an October day, 1066, wlien William of Xormandy 
and his followers won the battle of Hastings on the white cliffs of Dover, 
conquering the Saxons, or Angles, dividing the land, giving the estates to 
the soldiers, with titles of honor to those who had been brave in the battle. 
Out of the victory came the barons, lords, earls, and dukes ; the titled no- 
bility of England on the one hand, and on the other the subjugated Sax- 
ons and Britains, who became the common people of England. 
1 



2 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

• In all ao;es men have worshipped power, and liave assntned that tlie con- 
ferrino; of a title made men noble: that the descendants of those thns hon- 
ored, by some inexpHcable process, were more worthy than the common 
lierd of men. The nobility could look disdainfully down upon the multi- 
tude, reo:ardino: them as of infei'ior make, with the taint of low condition 
in their blood. 

From London, in lOOG, sailed three vessels which bore the first perma- 
nent English settlers to America. Of the one hundred and five on board 
the ships, four were carpenters, twelve laborers, four gold -refiners, while 
forty-eight regarded themselves as gentlemen, far superior to the joiners 
and carpenters. So it came about that class distinction, sense of supe- 
riority, and antagonism to labor were transplanted from English soil to 
the banks of the James, in Virginia. These features of society were 
made more prominent when the merchants who established the colony 
sent over indentured servants to work in the tobacco fields who could 
have no social rights, and they became a permanent force affecting the 
community, when a Dutch ship-master, in 1619, sailed up the James with 
sixteen slaves stolen from Africa, which were purchased by the planters. 
In those years no one thought it wrong to steal or hold negroes or In- 
dians in slavery. Sir John Hawkins, who engaged in tlie traffic, thought 
himself a special servant of God elected to bring blessings to the negroes, 
who would be better off as slaves in a Christian land than remain barba- 
rians in Africa. Besides, it was very profitable. Little did that Dutch ship- 
master, or any one else, comprehend what would be the outcome of that 
cargo of slaves— that the little rivulet would become a river— the migh- 
tiest of all the forces to bring about the greatest civil war of all the ages. 

There came a time when there was trouble between King Charles and 
Parliament, resulting in civil war in Great Britain. Most of the noblemen 
sided with the King. They called themselves Cavaliers. To be a Cavalier 
was to be brave, to have exalted ideas of honor, aiid be quick to resent 
insult. To be spoken of as a true Cavalier was regarded as the highest 
praise. The King was defeated in battle and executed. Many of the men 
who had sided with him made Virginia their home, bought large tracts 
of land, owned slaves, and dispensed lavish hospitality. It was natural for 
them to regard themselves as superior to those who were obliged to labor 
for their bread. Tliey believed in class distinction, gave direction to soci- 
ety, and left their impress upon the State. One of the emigrants was Sir 
John Washington, who had followed King Charles in all his misfortunes ; 
but when the King lost his head, when the outlook for the future, as Sir 
John saw it, was only dark and gloomy, he sold his old home in England, 



CAUSES WHICH JJKOUGHT ABOUT THE WAR. 3 

bade farewell to all that was dear, crossed the Atlantic, and made himself 
a home in Virginia. 

Following another rivulet, we are led back to that day when, by order 
of Henry VIII., King of England, a Bible was placed in every church 
throughout the realm. From reading it people began to think for them- 
selves, and to obtain exalted ideas of the worth and dignity of man; that 
men have natural rights which cannot be justly taken away by king or 
bishop, or any one else. 

Many of the parish ministers of England preached to the people to 
reform their lives, to stop their brutal sports — the lighting of cocks and 
dogs and worrying of bulls. Lords, ladies, king and queen, as well as the 
common people, delighted to see bull-dogs tear each other to pieces. Men 
who reformed their lives and became zealous for a purer religion were de- 
risively called Puritans by the rollicking Cavaliers, M'ho found little pleas- 
ure in attending church or listening to a psalm or sermon. 

The movement for purer morals began witli the common people, some 
of whom met in their own houses for worship instead of attending church. 
Such independence could not be tolerated by King James and the bishop.^ 
of the Church of England, and out of their j^ersecutions came the flight of 
the men and women of the little hamlets of Scrooby and Austerfield to 
Holland, where they lived ten years, and then, fearing that their children 
would forget that they were Englishmen, determined to leave Holland, 
cross the Atlantic, and establish themselves in the wilderness of America. 
On the 16th of September, 1(520, they bade farewell to all friends, sailing 
from Plymouth, England. They were one liundred and one persons. 
They were casting loose from all old things. They loved law and order. 
No one had given them authority to elect a governor, but nevertheless 
they chose one of their numljer — John Carver. In the cabin of the J/ay- 
Jlower, riding at anchor in the waters of Cape Cod, they signed their 
names to a compact organizing themselves as a body politic, agreeing to 
obey all the laws wliich they might make, and the governors whom they 
miglft choose. The woi-ld never before had seen such a paper or govern- 
ment. It was a constitution formed by a Christian people — the beginning 
of the government of tlie people. 

The nien of the MayJ^rer called themselves Pilgrims. They were 
poor; they were laborers. Labor was not only a necessity, but they re- 
garded it as a duty — a blessing. Idleness, in their estimation, led to vice ; 
industry to virtue. 

In that company of one hundred and one persons there were no inher- 
ited privileges, no class distinctions conferred by birth or positions in so- 



4 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

cicty. A democratic State crossed tlie Atlantic to establish itself upon the 
barren shores of Massachusetts, on a soil and in a clime where growth was 
possible only through unremitting industry. On Sunday they assembled 
in their moot, or meeting-house, for worship, listening to the preaching of 
Elder Brewster, their bishop, elected by themselves. They elected their 
governor in the same building, where they discussed all questions affecting 
the welfare of the community, each man having the right to be heard 
and to hold up his hand in voting. The Saxon tun became the New Eng- 
land town-meeting. Each citizen cultivated his own land, and there were 
no large estates. 

That their children might not grow up in ignorance, comprehending 
that ignorance is weakness and knowledge is power, they established free 
schools. With schools came the printing-press and the establishment of 
newspapers. 

In contrast, from the settlement of Virginia to the beginning of the war 
in ISGl, in no Southern State was there a coMiplete system of common 
schools. "1 thank God," wrote Governor Berkeley, of Yirginia, in 1671, 
'• that there are no free schools nor printing in Virginia, and I hope we 
shall not have them these hundred years." 

During the reign of Queen Anne a corporation was formed in Eng- 
land under the title of the Royal African Company, organized for carry- 
ing on the slave-trade. It was composed of dukes, lords, nobles, and mer- 
chants. Queen Anne reserved one-quarter of the stock for herself. She 
instructed the Boyal governors of the American colonies to give all pos- 
sible encouragement to the trade, and it is estimated that several hundred 
thousand slaves were transported to America by the company. So many 
M^ere brought that the colonists began to be alarmed, and Pennsylvania, in 
1712, passed a law restricting the importation. Virginia, in 172G, imposed 
a tax on the slaves brought from Africa. In 17G0 South Carolina enacted 
a law against the trade. All of these laws were disallowed by the Eng- 
lish government. But there was no commercial enterprise which brought 
in such rich returns. Those engaged in it purchased molasses in the West 
Indies, shipped it to New England or to Old England, distilled it into run:i 
which was sent to Africa, where it was exchanged for slaves captured in 
the wars between the negro tribes, which were trans^wrted to the West 
Indies and the American colonies. In 1772 the Virginia assembly sent 
an address to George III., pleading with him not to thwart their efforts to 
put a stop to the trade. '• The interes|; of the country manifestly requires 
the total expulsion of the slaves," read the address. Thomas Jefferson and 
Henry Lee, of Virginia, were earnest in their efforts not only to put a 



"^ 



CAUSES WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT THE WAR. 5 

stop to the importation of slaves, but to inaug-urate measures for the final 
abolition of slavery. The obstinate King, influenced by those who were 
reaping a rich harvest, would not listen to the appeal of the Virginians, 
and thus it came about that slavery was forced upon the people. The 
legislature of Massachusetts, in ITTl, and again in 1774, appealed to the 
crown to put a stop to the slave-trade without avail. It was British greed 
which planted slavery in America. 

With the coming of the Revolution slavery ceased in the New Eng- 
land States, and Virginia, in 1778, prohibited the further introduction of 
slaves. Societies were organized in the Southern States to brin": about its 
gradual abolition, and people looked forward to the time when it would 
become extinct. When the Constitution of the United States was adopted 
in 1787, and the Union established, each State surrendered some rights be- 
fore exercised, that the good of all might be secured. It was agreed that 
Representatives to Congress should be apportioned according to popula- 
tion. The South demanded that three slaves should be regarded as equal 
to two wdiite men. The slaves were citizens, but not voters. The North 
assented. It was the thistle seed of all future trouble. It was agreed 
that the African slave-trade might be continued till 1808, when it should 
cease altogether. This agreement was regarded as a compromise between 
the diverse interests of the States. Each State claimed the rio-ht to man- 
age its own institutions in its own way, and to make its own laws in re- 
gard to slaves. Slavery was an institution belonging to the several States, 
and not to the nation. Under the Constitution the States were no lon- 
ger a Federation but a Union, a Government of the people, with a Consti- 
tution which was to be the supreme law of the land. In 1787 an ordi- 
nance was passed for the government of the north-west territory, the 
great region of country now covered by the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Michigan, and AVisconsin, which prohibited slavery, but which de- 
clared that slaves escaping into the territory should be given up. This 
last provision was a seed which was to bring about a great crop of thistles 
sixty years later. 

In the Southern States agriculture was the only occupation — carried 
on almost wholly by the slaves, except in the mountain region, where 
slavery could not be made profitable, and where it degraded white labor. 
There was a class which lived solely upon the labor of the slaves. In the 
North there was a great diversity of occupations — agricultural, commer- 
cial, industrial, and mechanical. AJl men were regarded as laborers. The 
result was, as the years rolled on, a springing up of bustling towns and 
thriving cities in the North, while in the South there was only the shire 



V^^^^^* 



6 DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

town of the county or tlie house of tlie planter with ne2:ro huts around it. 
New Orleans was the only city of magnitude in the South. 

Though the people of the entire country, when the Constitution was 
adopted, looked forward to the time when slavery would be gradually ex- 
tinguished, the progress of events wholly unforeseen changed the aspect 
of affairs. 

When we study the history of the human race, the development of na- 
tions and their character, we see that clinuite — heat and cold, currents in 
tlie sea and air, rivers and mountains — as well as the fertility and produc- 
tions of the soil, have had much to do with the moulding of nations. With 
the earth turning on its axis from west to east, there is ever a current 
flowing westward along the equator in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 
That in the Atlantic strikes ao-ainst tlie coast of Brazil, and sends a larg-e 
portion of its flood, together with the mighty volume of water coming 
down the Amazon and Orinoco, northward into the Caribbean Sea and 
the Gulf of Mexico, and having no outflow except between Florida and 
Cuba, there must of necessity be a great rush of water at that point, which 
is the beginning of the Gulf Stream. The warm currents of air rising 
above the waters, laden with moisture drifting landward, give to the 
southern tier of States the climate which surpasses all others for the cul- 
tivation of cotton. Up to the close of the Revolutionaiy War, people in 
temperate climes wore clothing manufactured almost wholly from wool 
or flax, but it was discovered that the fibres of the cotton-plant could be 
used for the manufacture of clothing. The first cotton used in England 
was grown in India, but some seeds were brought to South Carolina, 
where the plants grew luxuriantly. Its cultivation began immediately 
after the close of the Revolutionary War. In 1TS4 eight bags of cotton 
were shipped to England, and in 1788, the year after the adoption of 
the Constitution, two hundred and eighty -two bags were shipped, and 
more called for. James Hargreaves, in England, had invented a spinning- 
machine, by which one person could do the work of several hands, thus 
cheapening the price of cloth and giving great impetus to the manufact- 
uring industries, and increasing the demand for cotton. It was slow work 
to pick the cotton seeds from the fibres, but this ditficulty was overcome 
by Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts, who invented the machine called the 
cotton-gin. 

\We have seen that from the first settlement of the country there were 
two distinct and diverse civilizations — two forms of society — one based on 
free, and the other on slave, labor. The demand of tlie world for cotton, 
the invention of the spinning-frame and of the cotton-gin, brought about 



^ 



CAUSES WHICH BKUUGIIT ABOUT THE WAR. 




HENRY CLAY. 



a state of affairs entirely different from wliat liad been anticipated by 
those who expected tlie gradual dying out of slavery. These inveritions 
had a tendency to perpetuate the two distinct forms of society. Mann- 
facturino; befjan in New England at the closie of the last century, increased 
the demand for cotton, and in turn there was a call for more slaves in 
the cotton-growing States. The cessation of the African slave-trade in 
1808, together with the demajid for slaves, made it profitable for the slave- 



8 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

lioklers of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri to raise slav^es for 
the southern market. Thus it came about that the coniuiercial and in- 
dustrial pursuits of the Nortliern and Middle States were intimately re- 
lated to the one great industry of the South. Slavery, instead of dying 
out, became a great source of wealth and political power. From its nat- 
ure it must be aggressive upon free labor, and must have new States and 
territories to maintain its political position. 

There are few things so slow of growth as an idea. Down to 1798 
the peojile did not comprehend that the United States were a nation. 
The course of the French government towards the United States awak- 
ened resentment thronghout the country. During that year Mr. Nichols, 
of Kentuck}', offered a series of resolutions setting forth the rights of 
the States as superior to those of the nation. The insolence and arro- 
gance of the Governor of Algiers in 1800 brought on the war with that 
country, which awakened in some slight degree an enthusiasm for the 
Stars and Stripes. Up to that time there had been no background of 
liistory, of sacrifice and devotion, except that of the Revolution. 

The question was arising as to who owned the ocean. Great Britain 
claimed to be mistress of the seas. The merchants of England wanted to 
do all the carrying of the world, and they looked with jealous eyes across 
the Atlantic to the United States, whose merchant-ships were spreading 
their white wings on every sea. England and France were at war. Bo- 
naparte was sweeping Europe with his armies, while England with her 
navy was asserting her power upon the ocean. England not only de- 
stroyed the war-ships but the merchant-vessels of France. The United 
States was England's only competitor for the carrying trade of the world. 
France and England both began to seize American ships, and England 
heffan to seize American sailors for her navv. The United States was 
powerless to protect American merchant-vessels. Members of Congress 
thought that if all trade between the United States and foreign countries 
were stopped, the necessities of England and France would compel them 
to come to terms, and a law Avas passed laying an embargo, or prohibition, 
on trade. The result was far different from what they expected it would 
be, for in a very short time the vessels were rotting at the wharves, ship- 
mast^fe and sailors, ship -carpenters, calkers, and sail -makers, were roam- 
ing the streets of the seaport towns with nothing to do. In the country, 
on the other hand, the spinning-wheels and looms were never so busy — 
women and girls at work from morning till night. Instead of depending 
upon England for cloth, they were manufacturing it. The people in the 
seaports were suffering, while those in the country were prospcrin.g under 



CAUSES WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT THE WAR. 



9 



the law. The iiatui'al resuh, was a divided opinion as to the benefits of 
the Constitution and the Union. England and France, the while, went on 
seizing American vessels. England had taken nine hnndred and seven- 
teen, and France five hnndred and fifty-eight, valued at more than seventy 
niilh'on dollars. England had also forced nearly twelve thousand Ameri- 




JOHN C. CALHOUN. 



can sailors into her navy. The people of the United States becam#very 
angry, but were divided in opinion, some desiring to go to Avar with both 
England and France, others with England only. On June 19, IS 12, 
Congress, in secret session, passed a bill declaring war with England. The 
United States had twenty vessels in the navy, the largest carrying forty- 
four guns, while Great Britain had one thousand and sixty vessels, many 



10 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

of them carrying seventy-four guns. On the 10th of August, 1812, tlie 
frigate Constitution fell in with tlie British ship Guerriere, and in a few 
miuntes compelled her surrender, so badly damaged that she soon went to 
tlie bottom of the sea. From the adoption of the Constitution to tliat 
hour no event had aroused such enthusiasm for the flag of the country. 
The successes of the American navy, and the victories along the Canadian 
frontier and at New Orleans, made the United States a nation. Although 
the war was unpopular in the Northern States, though a conv-ention was 
held at Hartford, Connecticut, in opposition to the war, the people com- 
prehended as never before that in unity only could there be power and 
peace for the nation. 

The war was very popular in Kentucky, where Henry Clay, orator 
and statesman, used his great influence to arouse the people of that State, 
He was born at Ashland, in Virginia, about twenty miles north of Rich- 
mond, and like many other Virginians made Kentucky his home. Nearly 
every man in that State was a hunter, and with his rifle could bring down 
a squirrel from the tallest tree. The hunters volunteered in great num- 
bers to serve under General Harrison in the North-west, and under General 
eTackson at New Orleans. For many years after the war, ballads were 
sung throughout the country extolling their deeds and awakening a loyal 
sentiment for the flag. There can be no doubt that the part taken by the 
people of Kentucky in the war of 1812 created a deep and abiding love 
in that State for the Union. 

A very different sentiment existed in the cotton-growing States, which 
took no part in the war, contributing few if any soldiers to the army. 
No loyal sentiment for the Union was awakened in those States. The 
people of South Carolina had always disliked the form of government. 
The great planters were aristocratic while the government was democratic. 
The aristocrats had little in common with the mass of people. Just after 
the war with Great Britain, Commodore Charles Stewart, commanding the 
frigate Constitution, had this conversation with John C. Calhoun, member 
of Congress from South Carolina.: 

"You of the South,"" said Mr. Stewart, "are the aristocratic portion of 
the Union. You are aristocratic in your habits, modes of living, and 
action, and yet you assume all the professions of democracy." 

" I admit," said Mr. Calhoun, " that we are essentially aristocratic, but 
we yield much to democracy. It is our sectional policy. It is through 
our affiliation with the democratic party in the Middle and Western States 
that we hold our power. When we cease thus to control the nation, we 
shall dissolve the Union." 



CAUSES WHICH UROUGHT ABOUT TIIF, WAR. 



11 




ANDREW JACKSON. 



Mr. Calhoun believed with Jefferson that the sovereignty of the State 
was superior to that of the nation ; the Union was only an agreement be- 
tween the States, and not a system of government, lie was sincere in his 
opinions, a man of keen, incisive intellect, who wielded great inHuence. 
Through his teachings, far beyond those of any other man, the doctrine 
that the rights of the States were superior to those of the nation was ac- 
cepted by the people of the South, and that it was their right and privi- 



12 DRUM- BEAT OF THE NATION. 

lege to secede from tlie Union whenever, in tlieir judgment, there was 
siitKcient cause. 

In 1818 a decision was made by tlie Supreme Court of the Unite<l 
States which was far-reaching in its resuUs. The decision is known as 
the Dartmouth College case. Tlie college is in New Hampshire. It 
l)egan as a school for Indians before the Revolutionary War. The Earl 
of Dartmouth and other benevolent men contributed to its support, and 
it became a college, receiving a charter from the State. There arose a 
disagreement among the trustees as to its management. The legislature 
changed its charter, making it a university, and electing a ])ortion of the 
trustees. The highest court -in the State decided that the legislature 
had the right to change the charter, whereupon the old trustees ap- 
pealed to the Supreme C^ourt of the United States, and employed Daniel 
AVebster, who argued the case for the State against the college. AVhen 
he was but eight years old, having had a few cents given him, he pur- 
chased a pocket-handkerchief with the Constitution printed on it, and 
studied it until he knew it by heart. He claimed that the charter 
originally given was a contract between the State and the men who had 
given their money to the college, and that to change the charter was 
a violation of the contract. The Supreme Court of the United States so 
decided, reversing the decision of the State court. It was an exaltation 
of the Constitution of the United States over the several States. It Avas 
felt in every legislative hall and in all courts. Not the cannon-balls of 
the frigate Constitution, crashing through the sides of the Guerriere, not 
from the musketry flaming over the breastworks at New Orleans, came 
tlie grand idea of Nationality, but from the plain, intelligent argument of 
Daniel Webster on the obligation of contract, which seemingly had noth- 
ing to do with the Constitution and the Union. The decision is one of 
the landmarks of American history. 

In 1824 Congress passed a Tariff Bill which gave great offence to the 
planters of South Carolina. Under the lead of Mr. Calhoun the legislat- 
ure of that State passed a law nullifying the law of Congress. No im- 
mediate effort was nuide by the State to put its law in force, but it was an 
offensive declaration that the State was superior to the nation. 

In 1830 Senator Ilayne, of South Carolina, advocated the doctrine of 
nullification in the Senate of the United States. Daniel Webster replied, 
setting forth the meaning and power of the Constitution. The newspapers 
printed his speech, which was read by the people far and wide. School- 
boys declaimed its closing words, '' Liberty and Union, now and forever, 
one and inseparable." It was a speech \vliicli, above all others, educated 



CAUSES WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT THE WAR. 



13 



the people as to the meaning of the Constitntion. The Governor of South 
Carolina issued his proclamation for the enforcement of the State law rela- 
tive to the collection of revenue from vessels entering Charleston harbor. 
Andrew Jackson, who commanded the hunters of Kentucky and Tennes- 
see at Xew Orleans, was President. H-e was smoking his pipe before 




DANIEL WEBSTER. 



the open fire in the White House when the proclamation readied him. 
lie leaped from his chair, dashed the pipe into the fire, lifted his right 
liand as if taking an oath, and said, "The Union must and shall be pre- 
served, by the Eternal !" He ordered a fleet of war-vessels to Charleston 
to enforce the laws, and South Carolina was compelled to submit. The 
words of President Jackson electritied the country. 



14 DKUM^BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Daring these years a large number of poor white people were leaving 
the slave States and moving into Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. They could 
not stay where they were degraded by contact with slave labor. 

One of the emigrants from Kentucky was Thomas Lincoln, a descend- 
ant of Samuel Lincoln, who left Norwich, England, in 1638, when troubles 
were arising between King Charles and Parliament. lie was one of the 
great company of liberty-loving men who preferred to seek a home in the 
wilderness of America rather than submit to the usurpations of the King. 
He settled in Hingham, Massachusetts. His descendant, Thomas Lincoln, 
disliked slavery. He was poor, and decided to cross the Ohio and make 
his home in Indiana. AVhen his son Abraham was seven years old lie 
loaded a little raft with his property — his carpenter's tools and a cask of 
whiskey — and floated down the Ohio to Perry County, in Indiana, where 
friends were living, and where he built a log-cabin for his future home. 
AVe shall see this boy Abraham many times during the unfolding of the 
events of the war. 

' The provision in tlie Constitution which recognized slaves as property 
entitled to representation was becoming a great political power. In 1820 
Maine and Missouri were admitted to the Union, but there was an angry 
discussion in Congress, with threats of a dissolution of the Union unless 
Missouri, which had been largely settled by people from Kentucky, was 
nuide a slave State. It was the first conflict between slavery and freedom 
under the Constitution, and slavery won. The State was admitted, with 
no restriction against holding slaves, but it was agreed that in all other 
territory north of the southern boundary of that State slavery should be 
forever prohibited. \^u^U'^^^ 

The slave-holders, to maintain their political power, brought about the 
annexation of Texas, which resulted in war with Mexico and the acquisi- 
tion of a vast area of country. The slave-holders expected that it would 
be settled by a slave-holding population, but their plans were overturned 
in a way which no one could have foreseen — the discovery of gold in Cali- 
fornia. Thousands of hard-working men made their way to the Pacific 
coast in 1849 who voted that California should be a free State. 

The spirit of the age in all civilized lands was changing. In 1775 
England was forcing slavery upon America ; in 1830 England w^as lib- 
erating all the slaves in the West Indies, and was declaring to the world 
that wherever her flag floated there was freedom for every man. Agita- 
tion had begun in the Northern States for the abolition of slavery in 
the territories over which Congress had jurisdiction, and in the District 
of Columbia. Slaves were sold at auction like pigs and cattle, within a 



CAUSES WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT THE WAR. 15 

stone" s-throw of tlie Capitol, where floated the Stars and Stripes. Slave- 
gangs, handcuffed and ciiained, wives and husbands, parents and cliildren, 
separated forever, with weary steps and weeping eyes, were taken from 
the slave prison through the streets of Washington, on their way to the 
soutliern market. Tlie people of the Northern States said that it was 
wicked, a shame and disgrace ; that slavery was an institution of the 
States, and not of the nation. They petitioned Congress to abolish it in 
the District of Columbia. The presentation of the petitions gave great 
offence to the slave-holders. California was south of the line of the Mis- 
souri Compromise agreed upon in 1830. The slave-holders would not con- 
sent to its admission as a free State, except on the condition that slaves 
who had run away and escaped into the free States should be returned to 
their masters. The Fugitive Slave Law, passed in 1850, made it a crime 
to aid a slave in escaping, or to refuse to aid in recapturing one who 
had escaped. 

Everywhere, except in the Southern States, people were beginning to 
comprehend that liberty is the birthright of every man ; that what God 
has given him cannot be taken away. They were beginning to see that 
what in itself is wrong can never be made right by act of Congress or 
Legislature. The law was hateful because it was repugnant to their sense 
of right. "What the world looked upon as right in other days, had come 
to be regarded as all wrong in 1850. "We will not be slave-catchers," said 
tlie people of the Northern States, and they passed laws which made it 
very difficult for a slave-holder to recapture those who had escaped.- "If 
the Constitution will not protect our property, we will dissolve the Union," 
said the slave-holders. The great mass of the people in the Northern 
States had no thought of interfering with slavery in the States, but they 
vrere determined that it should not be recognized in any way as a na- 
tional institution. The Abolitionists demanded that the Union should be 
dissolved, and denounced the Constitution as "a covenant with Death and 
a leaofue with Ilell." There were riots and mobs, which increased the bit- 
terness between the North and South. In 185-1 the law of 1820, which 
prohibited slaverv north of the southern boundarv of Missouri, was re- 
pealed. The object was the extension of slavery into Kansas and Ne- 
braska. The slave-holders of Missouri hastened into Kansas. The people 
of the free States organized emigration societies to assist in making it a 
free State. There was much fighting, which intensified the growing bit- 
terness. A majorit}^ of the settlers were opposed to slavery, and Kansas 
became a free State. 

Times had changed. No one in the South now expected that slavery 



16 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATIOX. 

would die; on the contrary, every effort was made to extend it over tlie 
Avliole country. It was regarded as a blessing, a beneficent institution. 
A class of men had risen in the South who regarded themselves as born to 
govern. 

" The right to govern resides in a very small minority ; the duty to 
obey is inherent in the great mass of mankind. The real civilization of 
a country is in its aristocracy." So wrote Mr. De Bow, of New Orleans. 
"To make an aristocrat," he said, "in the future we must sacrifice a thou- 
sand paupers. AVe would, by all means, make aristocracy permanent by 
the laws of entail and primogeniture." 

That was the plan of the great slave-holders — to set up a government 
in which a poor man should always be poor and low down in the world, 
■with no opportunity to better himself; the rich to have everything their 
own way ; the plantation descending from father to son, the oldest son 
having the best chance. 

Said Mr. De Bow, "We must teach that slavery is necessary in all 
societies, as well to protect as to govern the weak, poor, and ignorant. . . . 
It is the duty of society to protect all its members, and it can only do so 
by subjecting each to that degree of government constraint, or slavery, 
which will best advance the good of the whole. ... To protect the weak, 
we must first enslave them. . . . Slavery is necessary as an educational in- 
stitution, and is worth ten times more than all the common schools of the 
North." The state of society which this class desired to bring about was 
slavery for the colored people, degradation for the poor white men, wealth, 
power, landed estates, offices, titles, and nobility for themselves. 

The writings of some of this class will read strangely a century hence. 
Rev, Mr. Thornwell, of Columbia, South Carolina, was a learned and able 
Avriter, a doctor of divinity, respected and reverenced through the South. 
In a sermon preached in 1880, he said, "We confidently anticipate the 
time when the nations which now revile us would gladly exchange places 
with us. In its last ^analysis slavery is nothing but an organization of 
labor. . . . Society is divided bet\veen princes and beggars. . . . The only 
way by which labor can be organized as a permanent arrangement is l)y 
converting the laborer into capital ; that is, by giving the employer a right 
in the capital employed; in other words, by slavery. . . . Strange as it may 
seem to those not familiar with the system, slavery is a school of virtue." 

Rev. Mr. Palmer, a Presbyterian preacher in JSTew Orleans, a native of 
South Carolina, maintained that slavery was a divinely ordained institu- 
tion, and that the social condition of the South was much better than that 
of the North. He deplored the condition of the people of the Northern 



CAUSES WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT THE WAK. 17 

States. " The so-called free States," lie said, '' are workintf out a social prob- 
lem under conditions peculiar to themselves. These conditions are suffi- 
ciently hard, and their success is too uncertain to excite in us the least jeal- 
ousy." 

The preacliers, writers, politicians, leaders of thought, those who wanted 
to belong to the aristocracy, were for the extension and perpetuation of 
slaver}'. 

A convention of slave-holders was held at Xashville, Tennessee, in 
1857, which appointed a committee to report upon alfairs at the next 
meeting, which was held at Montgomery, Alabama, in Maj", 1858. Thus 
read the report: "Two antagonistic forms of society have met for contest 
on this continent. The one assumes that all men are equal ; that equality 
is right. On that theory it is levelling its members to the horizontal plane 
of democracy. The other assumes that all men are not equal ; that equal- 
ity is not right ; and standing on that theory, is taking to itself the rounded 
form of social aristocracy. The former is the view of the North, the latter 
of the South." 

The committee advocated the reopening of the slave-trade with Africa. 
They said, "It will give us political power ; it will give us population ; it 
will draw foreign enterprise to its embrace, foreign capital to its support ; 
it will drive the North from every field of conq)etition. If the South 
were to stand out for itself, crowns would bow before her, kingdoms and 
empires would break a lance to win the smile of her approval, and it will 
be her option to become the bride of the world rather than remain, as now, 
the miserable mistress of the North." 

In June, 1857, a fast sailing-vessel, the Wanderer, owned by Mr. Lamar, 
of South Carolina, sailed to Africa, obtained a cargo of slaves, landed them 
at Brunswick, Georgia, whence they were taken into the interior and sold. 
In former years Congress had passed a law which made the slave-trade 
piracy, and this cargo was brought as a deliberate violation of the law and 
to reopen the trade. Mr. Lamar notified the Secretary of the Treasury, 
Mr. Howell Cobb, of Geoi-gia, who was a slave-holder, that he intended to 
violate the law. Nothing was done to prevent him. 

Said the leading magazine of the Sonth, De Boio's Review, "An ex- 
asperated South will blow the Union to shivers if hordes of Northern im- 
migrants continue to seize upon and monopolize the whole of that territory 
which the South mainly acquired. The revival of the African slave-trade, 
the reduction in the price of negroes, and the increase of their numbers, 
Avill enable us successfully to contend in the settlement of the new terri- 
tories with the vast iimnigi'ation of the North. Nothing else can." 
9 



18 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



Tlie slave-holders knew that the tiiue was at hand when they could no 
loiig-er control the government; that tliej most lose the political power 
which thej had long enjoyed. Tliej helieved that the North was prosper- 
ous because of its connection M'ith the South. Thej were ignorant of the 
laws which govern the economic world, and had little comprehension of 
the rising spirit of the age. They were blind to the great movements 




JOHN BROWN. 



which have characterized the century — the rise of the people everywhere 
taa larger liberty and nobler civilization; they knew almost nothing of 
the power of a free people and their institutions. The record will ever 
stand in history that they deliberately determined to destroy the Union 
and establish a government based on slavery and class distinction. 

In the development of the historic drama, an actor, unheralded, ap- 
peared npon the scene — John Brown, who had taken a conspicuous part 
in making Kansas a free State, who had seen one of his sons ruthlessly 



CAUSES WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT THE WAR. 19 

inui'dered by ruffians set on by the slave-holders. In October, 1S59, with 
seventeen men ho seized the United States arsenal, where the waters of 
the Potomac break throuii'li the Blue Mountains at Harper's Ferry, Vir- 
ginia, lie believed that the slaves of Virginia would flock to him, that 
he could arm them with muskets from the arsenal, and that he could in a 
short time bring about the abolition of slavery. 

It was a plan devoid of reason. There was no chance of success. He 
was captured by a company of United States marines commanded by 
Robert E. Lee, whom we shall frequently see in this story of the war. He 
was hung at Charleston as a criminal, Henry A. Wise, governor of Vir- 
ginia, signing his death-warrant. The world thought John Brown a lu- 
natic, but Wendell Phillips, Boston s greatest orator, looking down into 
his grave, said, " He has abolished slavery ;" and James Russell Lowell, 

poet, said, ^ „ , „ ,-, 

'■ "Truth forever on the scaiiold, 

Wrong forever on the throne, 
But that scaffold sways the future, 

And behind the dim unknown 
Slandeth God within the shadow, 

Keeping watch above his own." 

John Brown went to his death as a criminal, but a million men, a fen- 
months later, sung his apotheosis in the march, by the bivouac lire, in the 
uproar of battle. I heard it rising like a dirge upon the evening air along 
the green banks of the Potomac. I heard it like the voice of many wa- 
ters when the accompaninient was the diapason of the cannonade; but no- 
blest, grandest, most impressive, was the mighty chorus which I heard 
ascending to heaven in the streets of Cliarleston, South Carolina, on a 
calm, still night, when a brigade of colored troops marched past old St. 
Michael's church, wdiere the moon was throwing the shadow of the church- 
spire across the grave of Calhoun, the great apostle of the rights of the 
State as superior to that of the nation— a brigade of men, slaves once, sold 
on the auction-block within a stone's-throw of that church-yard — freemen 
evermore, citizens of the Republic, soldiers of the mighty army, Avith the 
protecting folds of the Stars and Stripes above them, redeemed and ele- 
vated to citizenship by Abraham Lincoln. This the song: 

"John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave; 
His soul is marching on." 

The people of the South regarded the attempt of Brown to liberate 
the slaves as indicative of the future action of the people of the IS'orth. 
It aroused indignation and intensified the bitterness. Those who were 



20 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 




planning for the secession 
of the slave States im- 
proved tlie opportunity to 
increase the antagonism. 
The time had come to 
carry out their plans. It 
was not the people of the 
Sonth tliat started the 
movement, but the great 
planters and politicians. 




harper's ferry. 



South Carolina took the lead. On the 30th of ^^ovember, 1859, the 
legislature of that State passed a resolution favoring the formation of a 
Southern Confederacy. Charles G. Memminger was sent to Virginia to 
present the resolution to the legislature of that State. He said that - the 



CAUSES WHICH BROUGHT AUOUT THE WAR. 21 

Constitiiti(>n of the United States sliould be amended so that slavery 
might be carried everywhere. The Sonth lias the right to demand the 
repeal of all laws hurtful to slavery." 

A newspaper was established in Charleston to advocate the reopening 
of the African slave-trade. 

The people of Virginia were not quite ready to accept that doctrine. 

South Carolina wanted the law repealed which prohibited the importation 

of slaves from Africa, while Virginia did not; for she was raising negroes 

for the Southei'n market, every year sending from ten to twelve thousand, 

■worth ten million dollars. 

Mr. Memminger, and others of South Carolina, formed an association to 
bring about the dissolution of the Union. It was called the " 1860 Asso- 
ciation," which sent out one hundred and sixty thousand pamplilets advo- 
cating secession. The legislature of South Carolina called a convention 
to provide for arming the militia of the State. The United States Hag 
was taken down from the State House in Columbia. " Xever again shall 
it float in the free air of South Carolina," said the great planters. 

One of the leading secessionists was Robert Barnwell Ilhett. His true 
name was Smith, which he did not like, and so changed it. His parents 
were poor, but he became wealthy and lived in a statel}'^ mansion, owned a 
large plantation and many slaves. His summer residence was at Beaufort, 
overlooking the beautiful bay of Port Royal, his winter home was in 
Charleston. In a speech delivered in the hall of the Institute of South 
Carolina, he said, " Tiie Northern people are swollen with pride and inso- 
lence, and steeped in ignorance, selfishness, and fanaticism. They never 
will understand their dependence on the South until the Union is dis- 
solved, and they are left naked to their own resources. Then, and not till 
then, will they realize what a blessing the Almighty conferred upon them 
when he placed them in connection with the South; and they will curse 
in bitterness and repentance the dark day on wdiich they compelled us to 
dissolve it. Upon its dissolution their whole system of commerce and 
manufactures will be paralyzed and overthrown. Their banks will sus- 
pend payments, their stocks will fall in price, and confusion and distrust 
will walk the streets of their great cities; mobs will break into their 
palaces, and society will resolve itself into its original chaos." 

Mr. Rhett and his fellow -secessionists did not see that the conliict 
which they M'ere about to inaugurate would be a struggle between two 
systems of labor. Nearly seven million emigrants had crossed the Atlan- 
tic to become free citizens of the United States. They were hard-work- 
ing men and women. They had been oppressed in their native lands. 



22 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

They hated slavery and class distinction. All of their instincts were for 
liberty. They knew that slavery degraded labor, and cast their votes 
against its extension into the territories of the West. 

The men in the South who hated the democratic form of government 
on which the Union had been established, who thought to establish a con- 
federacy on aristocracy and class distinction, little comprehended the mag- 
nitude of their undertaking. Slavery, from its nature, must be aggressive. 
The slave-holders saw that they must dissolve the Union, or, in time, 
slavery would die. Jefferson Davis and other Southern writers would 
have the world believe that they brought about the dissolntion of the 
Union for the preservation of the rights of the States, but the verdict of 
history will be that it was to establish a government based on slavery. 



THE CONSPIKAUY, 23 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE CO XS PIRACY. 

WE come to 18G0, tlie Ir.st year of tlie presidency of James Bnclianan. 
The prediction made by John C. Callioun in 1812 liad come to pass. 
The Democratic party liad been purposely divided by the great slav^e- 
holders, who made demands for the extension of slavery which the mem- 
bers of the party in the jSTorth would not listen to. The slave-holders 
nominated John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, while the Northern men 
nominated Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois. The Whig party nominated 
John Bell, of Tennessee. A new party, the Republican, had risen, pledged 
to resist the aggressions of slavery. Its candidate was that boy whom we 
saw in the first chapter, floating down the Ohio on a raft, whose father 
was movino^ from a slave to a free State. Al)raham Lincoln had attended 
school only a few weeks in a log -cabin, where tlie only window was a 
hole in the side of the building, covered with a skin dressed very thin, 
or a sheet of paper greased with lard. He had very few books — the Bi- 
ble, "Robinson Crusoe," the ''Pilgrim's Progress," a history of the United 
States, and a life of Washington. For want of other books he read the 
Dictionary, carefully studying the words to comprehend their meaning. 
He used to sit before the wide lireplace in the evenings with a wooden 
shovel before him, and work out proljlems in arithmetic upon it with 
a bit of charcoal. lie frequently walked several miles to the house of 
David Turnham to read the laws of Indiana In .1830, at the age of 
twenty-one, he moved with his father to Illinois. It was bitter cold, and 
the snow was deep on those December days when they made their way 
across the wind-swept prairies to their future home, on the north fork 
of Sangamon River. Witli John Hanks and John Johnston lie went 
down the river to Springfield to build a flat -boat, working for fifty 
cents a day. AVhen the boat was completed, they loaded it with country 
produce and started for New Orleans, Avhere he saw slaves whipped and 
sold. His heart sickened at the sight. Returning to Illinois, he went to 
work splitting rails — four hundred of them for a pair of butternut-colored 



24 DRUM-15EAT OF THE NATION. 

jean trousers, which Xancv ILinks made for hiin, walking seven miles each 
day to and from his work. 

In 1841 he helped John Hanks build a flat-boat, and again went to 
New Orleans pulling an oar, seeing more of the hateful features of slav- 
ery. The water was low in the river when he returned on a steamboat, 
so that he was a long time in getting liome. There was a gang of slaves 
on board, handcuffed and chained to prevent their escape, the sight of 
which made a deep impression upon him. Once more at home, he be- 
came clerk in a store, and kept his accounts with such exactness, and was 
so fair in trading, that people called him "honest Abe." All respected 
him and had such confidence in him that they elected him to represent 
them in the legislature, where he came in contact with public men and 
learned about government. At one time he thought of becoming a black- 
smith, but concluded to survey land instead, and d)-a\v deeds. lie finally 
went to Springfield, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He was 
so exact in all his dealings, so able in argument, so clear-sighted upon 
questions of law, that the people liked him and elected him to Congress. 
Being a native of Kentucky, he had a, great admiration for Henry Clay — 
Kentucky's great statesman and orator — and was a firm believer in the 
principles of the Whig party, The northern section of that party was 
opposed to the aggression of slavery. Most of those who supported the 
Whig party, together with many of the Democratic party, organized the 
new Republican party. Mr. Lincoln had been selected bj^ the Republican 
party in Illinois as their candidate for Senator, but Stephen A. Douglas 
was elected instead. At the convention of the Republican party held in 
Chicago in 1860, Mr. Lincoln was selected as their candidate for the presi- 
dency. 

It was on Saturday evening, after the adjournment of the convention, 
that I first saw Mr. Lincoln in his own home in Springfield, accompanying 
the committee of the convention who apprised him of his nomination. 
He received the committee in the parlor, standing before the open fire- 
place, wearing a black frock-coat. He listened to the address of Mr. Ash- 
man, president of the convention, and replied briefiy. There was no study 
of infiection or cadence for effect, but there was a sincerity of expression 
which won instant confidence from all present. With the utterance of the 
last syllable his manner instantly changed. A smile illuminated his face. 
Addressing Hon. William D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, he said, "You are 
a tall man, judge. What is your height?" "Six feet three," was the 
reply. " I beat you. I am six feet four without my high-heeled boots." 
"Pennsylvania bows to Illinois," said Mr. Kelley, " and I am glad that we 




ABKAIIAM LINCOLN. 



THE CONSPIRACY. 



27 



have found ;i candidate for the presidency wlioiu we can look up to, for 
we have been iiifurined tlmt there were oidy little giants in Illinois." 
It was an allusion bj Mr. Kelley to Stephen A. Douglas, who was called 
the "little giant" by his admirers. 

The nomination of Mr. Lincoln was received with ridicule by the 
Southern newspapers, the editors of which delighted to call him an ape, 
a baboon, an ignoramus, an abolitionist ^ and the party which had nomi- 
nated him was stigmatized as the Black Republican party. The editors 




LINCOLN S HOME. 



informed their readers that the Republican party was in favor not only of 
abolishing slavery by act of Congress, but also was in favor of promiscu- 
ous marriage between white people and negroes, thus increasing the bit- 
terness of the South towards the North. 

Many jSTorthern men had settled in the South, some as merchants, oth- 
ers as mechanics, who ran locomotives, who l)uilt and repaired machinery. 
Slavery did not produce skilled mechanics, nor did it educate the people. 
Nearly all the school-teachers in the Southern States were from the Xorth. 
There were few common schools. The secessionists of Charleston, South 
Carolina, found fault with the school l^oard of tluit city for employing 



28 DliUM-lJEAT OF THE NATION. 

teachers educated in tlie Nortli. This was tlie excuse of tlje board : " We 
have looked thi'ough the South, searching through the colleges and acade- 
mies in vain. The teacher's profession, unhappily, seems but little appre- 
ciated in the South." Oidy the sons and daughters of rich men in the 
South obtained an education. A very large proportion of the poor white 
people were unable to read or write. It was the legitimate outcome of 
the institution of slavery. 

People from the Northern States, even those who had lived in the 
South many years, were regarded with suspicion and closely watched. 
Vigilance committees were formed to look after Northern men. A pe- 
riod of espionage began. William II. Crawford, living at Fort Worth, 
Texas, was suspected of being opposed to slavery, and was hung by a mob 
set on by tlie vigilance committee. They brought his body to his grief- 
stricken wife, then organized a meeting, and chose a committee to hunt up 
all suspicious persons in the county. More than two hundred persons were 
compelled to leave that region — some were whipped, others tarred and 
feathered. In several of the Southern States laws were passed wliicli 
compelled all free negroes to leave the State or be sold into slavery. The 
steamboats on the Mississippi were thronged with negroes thus driven 
out. More than two hundred thousand free men were made liable to be 
sold by these inhuman laws. Slavery could not tolerate freedom in any 
form. There must be no free negroes to make the slav^es discontented. 
Free speech must not be permitted. White men must not discuss the 
question of slavery. They must remain silent or leave the countiy. 
The vigilance committees opened mail -bags and assumed the right to 
read private letters. The spirit of slavery was iidiuman, robbing men, 
hanging them or driving them from their homes. Thus said the Rich- 
mond Whig: 

" A large amount of violence has been developed since the secession 
movement began, more than in the whole previous history of the State. 
There has been an intolerance of spirit never before known. It is on the 
increase, and bodes no good to law and order." 

During the summer and fall of 1S60 John B. Floyd, of Virginia, Sec- 
retary 'of War, was doing what he could to prepare the Southern States 
for war. He sent one hundred and thirty -five thousand muskets from 
Northern to Southern arsenals. '' We are much obliged," said the Mobile 
Advertiser, " to Secretary Floyd for the foresight he has displayed in dis- 
arming the North and equipping the South in this emergency." 

The United States army numbered only twelve thousand men. Most 
of the troops were in Texas, California, and Oregon, so far away that when 



THE CONSPIRACY. 29 

the plans of tlie conspirators were ripe, they couhl carry them out with- 
out molestation. 

The Secretary of the Xavy, though from Connecticut, allowed himself 
to be used by tiie secessionists. There were ninety vessels in the navy, 
carrying two thousand four hnndred and ninety-five guns. He sent five 
vessels to the East Indies, three to Brazil, seven to the Pacific coast, three 
to the Mediterranean, seven to the coast of Africa. Twenty -five were 
dismantled and unfit for service. Of the entire navy, the steamer Brool^- 
ly)i, twenty-five guns, and the store-ship lielo'f weva the only ones fit for 
service on the Atlantic coast. 

The dissolution of the Union was brought about by a few men. We 
can count them on our lingers. Tlie leaders were: Francis W. Pickens, 
William H. Gist, James II. Hammond, Robert Barnwell Rhett, Charles G. 
Memminger, Lawrence M. Keitt, James L. Orr, of South Carolina ; Jeffer- 
son Davis, Jacob Thompson, of Mississip])i ; John B. Floyd, James M. 
Mason, Robert M. T. Hunter, John Tyler, Henry A. Wise, John Seddon, 
of Virginia ; Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb, of Georgia ; William L. Yan- 
cy, of Alabama; Judah P. Benjamin, John Slidell, of Louisiana; Louis 
Wigfall, of Texas ; Stephen R. Mallory, of Florida. They announced 
their intention of dissolving the Union in case Mr. Lincoln should be 
elected President. 

"If Abraham Lincoln is elected," said Henry A. Wise, "I will not 
stay in the Union one hour. Rather than suljuiit to Republican rule, I 
would fight to the last drop of blood to resist its fanatical oppression. 
Our minds are made up. The South will not wait till the -ith of March, 
but we will be well under arms before then." 

"South Carolina will shatter this accursed Union. She will throw her 
arms around the pillars of the Constitution, and involve all the States in a 
common ruin," said Lawrence M. Keitt, with confused and florid rhetoric. 

There was great rejoicing in Charleston on the evening of election-day, 
November 6, 1860, when it was known that Mr. Lincoln was chosen. A 
few days later the legislature of South Carolina called a convention to act 
upon the question of seceding fi"om the L^nion. Notices of the formation 
of military companies appeared in the newspapers. The drum-beat was 
heard in every village. The Charleston Mc/'cnri/ flung out a transparency 
from its windows with this inscription: "One voice and a million of 
strong arms to uphold the honor of South Carolina." 

The Stars and Stripes became a hateful banner. Orators made inflam- 
matory speeches against the Union, and at the same time set forth the glo- 
rious future that awaited the Palmetto State. She was to be the leader in 



30 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

a revolution wliich -would bi-iug about the establishment of a new nation, 
which would l)e so powerful that the Northern States wonld sue for peace, 
and Great Ih'itaiu, fi-oni necessit}^, would bow meekly down before the 
new empire of the AVestern world. 

On December 17th the convention assembled in Columbia, but ad- 
journed to Charleston. Its sessions were held in secret, in the liall of the 
South Carolina Institute. On December 20th, at a quarter before one 
o'clock, it was voted that the union between the United States and South 
Carolina be dissolved. "The Union is dissolved!" was the cry which 
rang through the streets. Men tossed their hats into the air, women 
waved their handkerchiefs. All business stopped. Ladies appeared upori 
the. streets wearing secession bonnets made of cotton cloth, ornamented 
with rosettes of red, white, and blue, and leaves of the palmetto. A pro- 
cession was formed which marched to St. Michael's church-yard, where, 
around the grave of Calhoun, a solemn oath was sworn to give life, fort- 
une, and honor to secure the independence of the State. 

Evening comes. The ordinance of secession has been engrossed and is 
ready for signing. Two palmetto-trees have been placed on the platform 
in the hall. Mr. Alexander, an artist, has painted a banner representing 
the arch of the Confederacy, built on the ruins of the Union, South Car- 
olina the key-stone. Cotton bales beneath a palmetto-tree, a i-attlesnake 
darting its angry tongue, its emblems of power and vengeance. 

The members of the convention signed their names, then the bells 
rang, cannon thundered, and an excited crowd surged through the streets 
hurrahing over what had been done. 

Commissioners were sent to the other Southern States, urging them to 
secede. The legislature of Geoigia was in session. Robert Toombs was 
at home from AVashington and addressed the legislature. "AYithdraw 
your sons," he said, " from the army and navy and every department of 
the Government. Buy arms and throw the bloody spear into the den of 
the assassins and incendiaries, and let God defend the right. Twenty 
years of preparation would not make up for the advantage your enemies 
would gain if the rising sun on March 5tli should find you in the Union. 
Strike while there is yet time." 

Alexander H. Stephens made a speech in opposition to Toombs. " I 
tell you frankly," he said, " that the election of a man constitutionally 
chosen President is not sufficient cause for any State to separate from the 
Union." A month later he became vice-president of the Confederacy. 

Mississippi was the first State to follow South Carolina ; then Florida, 
Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, the last on February 1, 1861. 



THE CONSPIRACY, 



31 



Lieutenant- colonel Gardner, of Massacluisetts, was commander of the 
forts guarding the harhor at Charleston. Castle Pincknej was an old-fash 
ioned, circnlar, brick fort on Follj Island, al)ont one mile east of the city. 
Fort Moultrie was on Sullivan's Island, still farther to the east, on the site 







of the old fort built of palmetto logs during the Ivevolution, which the 
British fleet bombarded, and where, when the flag-staff had been shot aM^ay, 
Sergeant William Jasjjer leaped from the rampart down upon the beach, 
picked up the flag, and planted it once more upon the parapet. Besides 



32 DRUM-BEAT OF TOE NATION. 

these there was Fort Sumter, built up from a reef in the harhor. Tliere 
were tweuty-two camion in Castle Pinckney, besides two mortars and two 
small guns. In Moultrie there were forty-iive heavy cannon and seven 
light pieces; in Sumter there were seventy-eight cannon. The last-named 
fort was pentagonal in form, built of brick made solid by cement, and 
I'ose sixty-hve feet above the watei'. Tiie engineers who plaimed it in- 
tended that the armament should be one hundred and thirty-hve cannon, 
which should be placed in three tiers, two in casemates to be fired through 
embrasures, and the third on the top of the fort. Only seventy-eight of 
the guns, however, had been phiced in position. "Within the fort were 
wooden barracks for the ]M'ivates and officers. The fort was about mid- 
way, Sullivan's Island on the north and Morris Island on the south, a lit- 
tle more than half a mile from each. Tlie main ship-channel was between 
Sumter and Moultrie. The fort was two and one-third miles from Castle 
Pinckney and three and one-third miles from Charleston, 

Lieutenant -colonel Gardner saw that the secessionists were getting 
ready to seize the forts and called for reinforcements. The members of 
Congress from Sontli Carolina calkni npon the Secretary of War, Mr. 
Ployd, and asked for his removal. The request was granted, and Major 
Robert Anderson, of Kentucky, was appointed to succeed him. 

The secessionists did not know how true a man he was, or what blood 
coursed through his veins. His father was from Virginia, a lieutenant- 
colonel during the Revolution, was wounded at Trenton, taken prisoner ])y 
the British at Charleston, and was aide to Lafayette at Yorktown. Major 
Anderson was born in Kentucky, whose sons had poured out their blood 
for the Union in the war of 1812, whose voice had ever been for the 
Union. Major Anderson was a religious man. He believed in God and 
loved the Bible. ISTothing was so dear to him as the flag he had sworn to 
support. His headquarters were in Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island. 
He, too, saw what the secessionists intended to do, and sent this message 
to General Scott: "Fort Sumter and Castle Pinckney must be garrisoned 
immediately, if the Government is to keep command of the harbor." 

" Your communications in the future will be addressed to the Secre- 
tary of AVar," wrote John B. Floyd to Major Anderson. 

Why did not Floyd remove him 'i Because he had something else to 
think of. A matter was coming to light which he would like to keep in 
the dark. Some bonds belonging to the Indian Trust Fund of the Inte- 
rior Department were not in the safe where they ought to be, A relative 
of Floyd, Godard Bailey, had charge of tlie bonds ; Floyd had made a con- 
ti-act with the firm of Russell & Co. to transport supplies for the army 



THE CONSPIRACY. 



33 



from St. Louis to Utah, and had paid tliem more than two million dollars 
in excess of work done, making the payments by drafts. The bankers in 
New York would not advance money on the drafts, whereupon Bailey took 
the bonds from the safe and gave them to Russell & Co., taking the drafts 
in exchange. It was in effect a robbery. The interest on the bonds would 
be due January 1st, and if not paid the theft would be made public. 
There was no money in the Treasury, which, under the administration of 
Buchanan, had become bankrupt. The Secretary of the Interior, Jacob 




MAJOR ROBEKT ANDERSON. 

Thompson, of Mississippi, was in Raleigh, North Carolina, "using his influ- 
ence to bring about a secession of that State. He received a letter from 
Bailey informing him of the condition of affairs, which caused him to 
hasten to Washington, and it was his arrival, and the reflection that in 
two or three days the transaction would be known, that gave Floyd some- 
thing else to think of. 

There were still a few men in Charleston who were true to the old flag. 
James L. Pettigrew was regarded as the ablest lawyer in South Carolina. 
3 



3-1 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

On Sunday when the minister, where he attended church, omitted from 
the service the usual prayer for the President of the United States, Mr. 
■ Pettigrew rose in liis seat and repeated vei'j^ distinctly, " Most humbly and 
heartily we beseech Thee with Thy favor to behold and bless Thy servant, 
the President of the United States." lie placed his praj'er-book in the 
rack, motioned to Mrs. Pettigrew, who placed her arm within his, and to- 
gether they left the clnirch; nor did he ever enter it again until his lifeless 
body was carried there for burial. 

There was still another loyal man in Charleston — Tom Hogan, born in 
Ireland, but who had made America his home. lie was in an auction- 
room, where, among other goods, the Stars and Stripes was displayed, not 
in honor, but in derision. The auctioneer did not offer it for sale, but 
threw it ujDon the ground, saying he would not ask a bid for that worthless 
rag. "I'll give ten dollars for it!'' shouted Tom Hogan, handing over his 
money, picking up the Hag and carrying it away, the astonished secession- 
ists not daring to molest him. Through all the years of the war he kept 
it concealed in his house, and when Charleston was once more under the 
Stars and Stripes, Tom Ilogan's flag waved above the headquarters of the 
general in command. 

Christmas evening came. Major Anderson was at a dinner-party in 
Charleston, where he heard something which set him to thinking as to 
what he ought to do. No reinforcements liad been sent him, and from 
what he heard he conehided that none were to be sent. He knew that the 
military companies of Charleston were intending to seize the forts under 
the direction of Governor Pickens. All night long he thought of his duty 
and obligation to the flag, and resolved to abandon Moultrie and transfer 
the troops to Sumter. His entire force consisted of two weak comj)anies 
of artillery and some hired men employed by the engineer department 
about the forts, in all about one hundred, of which flfty-one were officers 
and soldiers. The day after Christmas was a very active day in Moultrie, 
where nearly all of the soldiers were stationed, and where Major Anderson 
had his headquarters. Only the officers were informed as to what Major 
Anderson intended to do. Tlie secessionists had spies around him, and at 
night they had a boat patrolling the harbor. They attempted to keep close 
watch of every movement. Supper was I'cady, but the soldiers did not sit 
down to their mess ; taking their supper with tliem, they stepped into the 
boats and made their way to Sumter. Morning dawned ; the sun was ris- 
ing. The soldiers stand around the flag-staff. Major Anderson kneels, hold- 
ing the halyards, while Rev. Matthew Harris, the chaplain, offers prayer, 
and then the flag rises to the top-mast to float serenely in the morning air. 



THE CONSPIRACY. 35 

The people of Cluarlestoii, looking out from tlic balconies of their 
houses along the grand promenade, behold with astonishment a column of 
smoke rising above Moultrie, where the gun-carriages are slowly burning, 
having been set on fire by the departing garrison, while above Sumter 
floats the detested flag. All their plans have suddenly been overturned. 
Sumter cannot now be seized ; the garrison must be starved out or the fort 
captured. They do not w^ant to starve the garrison, but to win glory by 
capturing the foi-t. The telegraph flashes the startling news to Washing- 
ton, Secretar}' Floyd hastens to the Wliite House to sec President Bu- 
chanan, demanding that Major Anderson be ordered back to Moultrie. 
The President refused to comply with the request, which greatly enraged 
the secessionists. 

In Charleston there was a beating of drums, a mustering of the mili- 
tia, who took possession of the arsenal. Castle Pinckney, and Fort Moultrie. 
There was great excitement throughout the State. The governor ordered 
out the Darlington Guards and the Columbia Artillery, which took posses- 
sion of Morris Island, to begin the erection of batteries and the mounting 
of cannon for the bombardment of Sumter. The soldiers in their bright 
uniforms did not do the shovelling ; that was done by slaves sent by the 
planters in their fiery zeal. liev. Mr. Prentis, preacher of the Gospel, 
owner of many slaves, sent sixteen of them. It was the beginning of the 
struggle between the two systems of labor, two forms of society, two 
diverse civilizations. Had Major Anderson seen fit to open fire upon 
that gang of slaves and the militia drilling on the sandy beach, he would 
quickly have put an end to the shovelling. lie had not gone to Sumter, 
however, for any hostile purpose; it was not his duty to begin hostilities. 
He had acted solely in self-defence, according to instructions from Wash- 
ington. Day by day he saw the fortification rising upon Morris Island, 
and heavy cannon placed in position to open fire, but it was his duty to 
wait. The secessionists, and not the Government, must bear the responsi- 
bility of beginning a war. 

The 1st of January came, and the coupons of the Indian Trust Fuiul 
were due. The money in the Treasury had been squandered. The people 
throughout the country were astounded at the news that the bonds of the 
Trust Fund had been stolen by trusted officials. Secretary Floyd had 
done what he could to destroy the government of the Ignited States and 
l)uild a Confederacy upon its ruins ; he could stay no longer in office. He 
sent his resignation to the President, and fled to Virginia like a thief escap- 
ing justice. The court indicted him, and warrants were issued to the sher- 
iff for his arrest. AVe shall see him once more for a moment as major- 



36 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

general in the Confederate army, then he will disappear, to be remembered 
only as a traitor and thief. Howell Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, had 
already resigned. Their places were filled with loyal men. 

President Buchanan made a great mistake in not dismissing Jacob 
Thompson, of Mississippi, Secretary of the Interior. At a meeting of the 
cabinet it was decided to send four companies of troops to reinforce Major 
Anderson. Thompson acted the part of a traitor by telegraphing to the 
Governor of Soutli Carolina what had been done. The Government could 
not send a despatch to Major Anderson, as the secessionists would know 
all about it. The steamer Sia?' of the West, with the troops on board, 
reached Charleston harbor, but was turned back by the batteries on Morris 
Island, which opened fire. Verj' boastful was the Charleston Mercury the 
next morning. " We would not," it said, " exchange or recall that blow for 
millions. It has wiped out half a century of scorn and outrage. The 
haughty echo of her cannon has, ere this, reverberated from Maine to Tex- 
as. The decree has gone forth. Upon each acre of the peaceful soil of 
the South armed men will spring up as the sound breaks upon their ears. 
By the God of our fathers, the soil of South Carolina shall be free!" 

In one of the committee-rooms of the Capitol at Washington, on the 
night of January 5tli, there was a secret meeting of the Senators from 
Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The watch- 
man who strolled through the corridors of the Capitol knew nothing of 
what was going on in the room ; the public knew nothing of what was 
said by the men who had thus met to overthrow the Government ; but 
durino: the niffht messao-es were flyino; alono- the wires uro-ino; the secession 
of the States which they represented, and the seizure of all the forts along 
the Southern coast, with all the arsenals. 

Governor Brown, of Georgia, ordered the military companies of Savan- 
nah to take possession of Fort Pulaski. A military company from x^ew 
Orleans went up the Mississippi- to Baton Rouge, and occupied the. arsenal 
there. In all the ports the secessionists were seizing the revenue-cutters 
belonging to the Government. 

John Adams Dix, of New York, was appointed Secretary of the Treas- 
ury. He sent Mr. Jones to New Orleans with an order to Captain Bi-esh- 
wood, commanding the revenue-cutter at that port^ to sail to New York. 
The captain was a secessionist and proposed to turn the vessel over to the 
Confederates, whereupon Secretary Dix sent this despatch: ^^ If any man 
attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot /^^ 

What a glorious and heart-thrilling despatch it was! There had been 
apathy throughout the country over the state of affairs. People had stood 



THE CONSPIRACY. 37 

appalled over the treachery at Washington and through the South. A 
sentiment so loyal, and uttered so fearlessly, awakened a lofty enthusiasm 
for the old flag which had never been lowered in dishonor. 

Every fort in the South was seized, except Fort Pickens, on Santa Rosa 
Island, in the harbor of Pensacola, which was held by Lieutenant Slemmer 
and the troops under him. /^ 

General Twiggs was in command of twenty-five hundred troops at San 
Antonio, Texas. He entered into conspiracy with Ben McCulloch, who 




GENERAL JOHN A. DI5. 

called himself a Texan Eanger, who gathered one thousand men and rode 
into San Antonio at two o'clock on the morning of February 10th, yelling, 
firing their guns, and taking possession of the town. General Twiggs pro- 
fessed to be surprised, and surrendered the troops, all the stores, cannon, 
and supplies, worth one million two hundred thousand dollars. Twiggs 
was from Georgia. When the news of his treachery reached Washington, 
President Buchanan ordered his name to be stricken from the rolls of the 



3* 



/TV/ 



'^Vov/-_ 



38 



DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 




'^'^m/7 ^dJj^a^ Ila^yi^ 
















FACSIMILE OF GENEKAL JOHN A. DIX'S DESPATCH. 



THE CONSPIRACY. 



39 



army as a traitor. The people of New Orleans gave liiiu an ovation, but 
liis name has gone down to liistory covered with infamy. From the time 
of Judas men have despised a traitor. 

Florida seceded January 12th. It had been purchased from Spain by 
the money of all the States, and the forts at the entrance of Pensacola Bay 
had been built by the United States. The State of Florida had no claim 
to them. Men sent by the governor demanded the surrender of the forts. 
There were three — Fort McRea 
and Fort Barrancas on the main- 
land at the entrance to the harbor, 
and Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa 
Island, guarding the eastern side. 
Young Lieutenant Slemmer, in 
command, knew that he would be 
powerless against the troops which 
would soon appear, but he was loyal 
to the flag which he had sworn to 
support. He was quick to act. He 
drove spikes into the vent-holes of 
the cannon in the forts on the 
main-land, jumped into a boat with 
his men, rowed across the bay, 
threw himself into Fort Pickens, 
and determined to keep the Stars 

and Stripes flying above that fortress of stone. lie held it until the 
middle of April, when reinforcements arrived. It was the one place on 
the Atlantic shore south of the Chesapeake where the flag of the Union, 
through all the years of the war, waved in grandeur and glory. 

February 15th was a great day in Montgomery, Alabama. A crowd 
surged through the streets. Delegates from the seceding States were 
there, sitting in convention, organizing a Confederacy, and electing Jeffer- 
son Davis president and Alexander II. Stephens vice - president. Mr. 
Davis was at his home in Mississippi. There was great enthusiasm at all 
the railroad stations on his route to Montgomery. lie made twenty-five 
speeches, one from the balcony of the Exchange Hotel in Montgomery. 
It was ten o'clock in the evening ; cannon were thundering, bonfires blaz- 
ing, the crowd hurrahing. On each side of the newly elected president 
of the new Confederacy stood a negro, holding a tallow candle, that the 
people might see the great man of the hour. 

"England will not allow," said Mr. Davis, "our great staple — cotton — 




VNV^A^Cj 



MAP OF PENSACOLA. 



40 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



to be dammed up within our present limits. She -will aid us. If war 
must come, it must be on Northern, not on Southern, soiL A glorious fut- 
ure is before us. The grass will grow in Northern cities where the pav'e- 
ments have been worn off by the tread of commerce. We will carry war 
where it is easy to advance, where food for the sword and torch await our 
armies in the densely populated cities." 

He had some reason for uttering such language, for there were people 
in high positions in the Northern States who had assured the slave-hold- 
ers that they were in sympathy with them. 




JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



" If there is any fighting, it will be within our own borders and in our 
own streets," wrote ex-President Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, to 
Jefferson Davis. Fernando Wood, mayor of New York, proposed that 
there should be a separation of the States, and that New York City should 
be independent of them all. 

"If force is used it will be inaugurated at home," said the politicians 
belonging to the Democratic party, in convention at Alljany. 



THE CONSPIRACY. 41 

" If the cotton States can do better out of tlic Union than in it, we 
insist on lettini!^ them go in peace," Avrote Horace Greeley, editor of the 
New York Tribune, one of the leaders of the party which elected Mr. 
Lincoln. It was a natural conclusion which the secessionists arrived at, 
that the people of the North were so divided in sentiment that they 
would not go to war, or if they did, it would be an easy matter for the 
Southern States to establish their independence. The merchants of New 
York, Boston, and Philadelphia became alarmed at the prospect of losing 
their trade, and were ready to give their friends in the South long credits, 
hoping thereby to induce the Southern States to remain in the Union. 
The merchants of Charleston, Savannah, and New Oi'leans accej^ted the 
offers, and purchased large stocks of goods, giving notes which never were 
paid. 

Let us keep in mind, as we go on with this story of the war, that it 
was a conflict between two systems of labor. The South had few manu- 
factories of any kind. On the 18th of February Raphael Semmes, who 
had resigned his commission in the United States navj', called upon Jef- 
ferson Davis at Montgomery, and received authority to visit the Northern 
States and obtain skilled mechanics, to be employed in making machinery 
for the manufacture of arms, ammunition, and percnssion-caps. " So ex- 
clusively," writes Mr. Semmes, " had the manufacture of these articles 
been confined to the North, that we had not even enough percussion-caps 
to fight a battle." In the month of March Mr. Semmes was inspecting 
the manufactories in Connecticut and Massachusetts and New York. He 
says that he found people everywhere not only willing, but eager to trade 
with him. He purchased large quantities of percussion - caps and sent 
them by express to Montgomery', and made contracts for machinery to 
manufacture rifled cannon. Mr. Semmes bears this testimony : " The 
people did not think it possible that the South was in earnest." 

Jefferson Davis and the cotton-planters thought that England must 
have cotton to supply the manufactures of that country, to keep millions 
of people from becoming pauj^ers ; that if the Northern States attempted 
to blockade the Southern seaports, England would send her ships to break 
the blockade; that the spinners and weavers of Lowell, Manchester, Fall 
River, and all the cotton manufacturing towns of New England, not liav- 
ing any more cotton, would become mobs, parading the streets and crying 
for bread. The Southern newspapers informed their readers that the 
North would soon be starved into submission. " The Northern people," 
said the Charleston Courier^ in December, 1860, " have a long, dark win- 
ter of cold and hunger impending over their heads. Before it is over 



42 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



they will have millions of operatives without work and without bread. 
Wlien cold and hunger do their work, this deluded rabble will ask alms at 
the door of the rich with pikes and firebrands in their hands." 

On February 11th Abraham Lincoln left his home in Springfield, 
Illinois, for Washington. lie was the chosen representative of free labor. 




MAP OF CHARLESTON HARBOU. 



Crowds greeted him at ev^ery station. This was what he said at Indianap- 
olis : "When the people rise in mass in behalf of the Union and the lib- 
erties of their country, truly may it be said that the gates of hell cannot 
prevail against them." 

On March ith he became President. 

" I have no intention of interfering with slavery in the States where it 
exists," he said ; and he went on to say that the Union is perpetual ; that 
acts of violence against the authority of the United States are insurrection- 
ary, and that the Union wonld defend itself and hold its property ; that 
beyond that there wonld be no invasion, no using of force against the peo- 
ple, no bloodshed, unless forced upon the national authority. 



THE CONSPIRACY. 43 

" In jour hands," he said to tlie people of the South, " and not mine, 
is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail 
you ; you can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors." 

An attempt was made to conciliate the seceding States by holding a 
"Peace Congress," but the States that had seceded had no desire to be 
conciliated. 

What should be done about Fort Sumter? That was the one great 
question. 

" I have but one month's provisions," wrote Major Anderson. If pro- 
visions were not sent, he would be compelled to evacuate. 

Jefferson Davis sent commissioners to AVashington to negotiate for the 
surrender of the fort, but instead of surrendering it. President Lincoln 
and a majority of his cabinet decided that provisions should be sent to the 
garrison. 

"You will not be permitted to purchase provisions in Charleston," 
said the authorities of South Carolina to Major Anderson, stopping the 
commissary who had purchased vegetables in the market. The garrison 
had nothing left but salt pork and one barrel of flour. 

A fleet sailed from New York with supplies. 

"My batteries are ready. I await instructions," was the message of 
General Beauregard, commanding the troops on Mori-is Island, to Jeffer- 
son Davis. For three months the slaves had been at work with shovels, 
throwing up intrenchments. For three months the Palmetto Guard, the 
Columbia Artillery, and other companies — five thousand troops in all — 
had been placing cannon and mortars in position. 

A floating iron-clad battery had been constructed, which was towed by 
a steam-tug into a chosen position and anchored where it would rain its 
shot and shell upon the weakest wall of the fort. Major Anderson had 
seen it all, but yet he did not attempt to prevent it, for President Lincoln 
had determined that if there was to be war the Southern States should 
fire the first gun. 

"Demand the immediate surrender of Fort Sumter," was Jefferson 
Davis's order to Beauregard, and on the afternoon of April 11th two offi- 
cers went out to the fort from Morris Island with the demand. 

" I cannot surrender the fort. I shall await the first shot, and if you do 
not batter me to pieces, I shall be starved out in three days." 

South Carolina and the Confederate government cannot wait. 

Every morning through the winter the people of Charleston had seen 
the Stars and Stripes go up the flag-staff of Sumter, and its crimson folds 
and fadeless stars float serenely in the breeze through the day ; at night- 



44 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

fall they had seen the flash and heard the thunder of the sunset salute to 
the hated banner. The colonels, majors, captains, lieutenants, the soldiers 
in. the batteries, longed to humiliate the emblem of national authority. 
The governor of the State, Francis W. Pickens, Jefferson Davis, all who 
had labored with hot and fiery zeal to overthrow the Union, with blood 
at fever heat, were eager for war. The flag of the United States must 
be trailed in the dust. The "mud-sills," as Senator Hammond, of South 
Carolina, had called the working-men of the Northern States, must under- 
stand that the Cavaliers of the South were their masters. 

" It is a gross mistake," wrote George Fitzhugh, of Virginia, " to suppose 
that Abolition is the cause of dissolution between the North and the South. 
The Cavaliers, Jacobites, and Huguenots of the South naturally hate, con- 
temn, and despise the Puritans who settled the North. The former are 
master races ; the latter a slave race, the descendants of the Saxon serfs." 

Virginia had not seceded. The convention to consider the question 
was in session, composed largely of men who did not wish to secede. 

"I will tell you what will put Virginia in the Southern Confederacy 
in less than an liour," said Roger A. Pryor, a red-hot secessionist of Vir- 
ginia, to the people of Charleston ; " sprinkle blood in their faces." 

From the beginning the secessionists were bold and aggressive. 
Not by appeals to reason, not by fair argument, but by denunciation 
of the Northern people, by constant talking of " State Rights," they 
brought about the secession of the several States. The leadei's in 
the conspiracy saw that a blow must be struck. Having gone so far, 
they must go farther, and they deliberately resolved to bfing on the 
wai'. 

At 3.20 on the morning of April 12th a boat glides over the calm 
waters to Fort Sumter, bearing a messenger with a note from General 
Beauregard to Major Anderson : " I shall open fire on Fort Sumter in 
one hour." The people of Charleston knew that the message was to be 
sent, and many have sat up through the night to see the ushering in of 
the new era in the history of the Palmetto State. 

Half-past four. The hour has come. They see the flash of a cannon 
and hear its thunder rolling up the bay. An old man with long white 
hair flowing upon his shoulders — Edmund Ruffin, of Virginia — whose beau- 
tiful home stands on the bank of the James, who has given heart and soul 
to the cause of Secession, claims to have fired it. Little does he compre- 
hend what will come of it ; that before the cannon of the Nation have 
ceased their thundering, great armies bearing the Stars and Stripes will 
pitch their tents upon his wide-spreading acres; that the soldiers of the 



THE CONSPIRACY. 



45 




GEXEKAL BEAUKEGAKD. 

■Union will eat the fruits of his orchards ; that his home will disappear in 
the devastating flames ; that his slaves will be freemen, citizens of the 
Eepublic ; that his own weak and trembling hands will twist a rope for 
his own neck; that the time will come when his body will be swaying 
lifeless in the air— that he will commit suicide through mortification over 
the failure of his liopes and expectations. 



4G DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

From the sand-hills on Morris Island, from the floating battery, from 
Moultrie, came flashes in quick succession. White powder clouds floated 
in the morning air, and the deep thunder rolled across the hitherto peace- 
ful waters of the bay. Six o'clock. As yet there is no answering from 
Sumter. Major Anderson and his men are eating their breakfast of fried 
salt pork. Seven o'clock. At last the cannon of Sumter open their lips. 
Their waiting is symbolic of the patience, endurance, and long-suffering of 
a great people. Through the day the bombardment goes on, the forts and 
batteries raining a concentrated fire upon the beleaguered garrison. Major 
Anderson's heart is momentarily gladdened by the appearance of the fleet 
which has been sent to his relief, but the batteries on Morris Island com- 
mand the channel, and the vessels cannot approach the fort. At sunset 
the fort ceases its thunder, but through the night the Confederate bat- 
teries, at regular intervals, send their shells across the water. 

Morning dawns, and once more the batteries are in lively action. 
Again the fort replies, but more slowly than before, for no more cloth can 
be had for cartridges. The soldiers tear up their blankets, and when those 
are gone, strip off their shirts and hand them over to the gunners. 

From the roofs and steeples of Charleston, from the balconies along the 
promenade, the people look exultingly upon the scene. The Confederate 
soldiers in Moultrie send red hot cannon-balls crashing into the wooden 
barracks, setting them on fire. In vain the efl:"orts of the Union soldiers 
to extinguish the flames, and fearing that the heat will explode one of 
the magazines, they throw most of the powder into the sea. The flag- 
staff is shot away, but Peter Hart, who w;as once a sergeant under Major 
Anderson, but wh.o is now working at his trade as a carpenter for the 
Government, and Mr. Davy, run up the stone steps to the parapet, where 
shells are exploding and solid shot ploughing across the masonry, and fix 
the flag once more in its place. 

Major -Anderson has so little powder that he can only fire once in ten 
minutes. He has eaten his last meal ; there is not a biscuit left, no flour, 
nor rice, nothing but salt pork, but he has no thought of surrendering the 
fort ; he will stay till the last moment. He will be compelled to evacu- 
ate on Monday morning, when he can no longer give his starving soldiers 
food. 

A boat glides over the water from Morris Island, bearing General Wig- 
fall, of Texas, who climbs into one of the embrasures and informs Major An- 
derson that he has come from General Beauregard. He is a self-appointed 
messenger, unauthorized, but through his action the cannonade ceases. It 
is finally agreed that the fort shall be surrendered, that Major A.ndersoii 



THE CONSPIRACY. 47 

and all his men shall have the privilege of salnting the flag, taking it with 
them, and that they shall be placed on board the Government vessels out- 
side the harbor. 

Never before has Charleston been so intoxicated with joj amounting 
to delirium as on that Saturday night, April 13, 1861. Crowds surge 
the streets, hurrahing and shouting. Houses are illuminated, bells ring. 
In the stately mansions ladies till wineglasses, and the young men drink 
to the health of General Beauregard, Jefferson Davis, Governor Pickens, 
the honor of South Carolina, and to the ladies. Never before such a 
niffht of revel in Charleston. 

" Thank God !" said Governor Pickens, standing on the balcony of the 
Charleston Hotel, addressing the multitude — " thank God ! the day has 
come ; the war is open, and we will concpier or perish. We have defeated 
their twenty millions, and we have humbled the proud flag of the Stars and 
Stripes that never before Avas lowered to any nation on earth ; we have 
lowered it in humility before the Palmetto and Confederate flags, and have 
compelled them to raise the white flag and ask for honorable surrender. 
The Stars and Stripes have triumj^hed for seventy years, but on this 13th 
of April it has been humbled by the little State of South Carolina. And 
I pronounce here, before the civilized world, that your independence is 
baptized in blood ; your independence is won upon a glorious battle-field, 
and you are free now and forever, in defiance of the world in arms'." 

Little did Governor Pickens think what changes four years M'ould 
bring ; that grass would be growing on those time-worn pavements ; that 
the air would be voiceless to all sounds of business, every house desolate, 
every home rent by cannon-balls, or shattered by exploding shells ; that all 
would be ruin and desolation. Governor Pickens had a great plantation. 
Slaves did his bidding. Ere four years they would be free men, soldiers 
in the army of the Kepublic, enjoying the rights of citizenship, and all the 
fond dreams which had come to him of a confederacy built oh slavery 
would fade away before the mighty power of a free people, and the old 
flag would once more be floating over the shapeless ruins of Sumter. 



48 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE UPRISING OF THE PEOPLE. 

SIXCE tlie fonncling of the nation, men liad never looked into one anoth- 
er's faces as on Saturday evening, April 13, 1861. Xever had there 
been such sinking of hearts and hopes as at the sunset hour of that day of 
gloom. People wept as they weep when looking down into the coffin 
of a departed friend. The flag that never before had been dishonored, 
the brightest banner that ever waved on earth, the emblem of the world's 
best hope — insulted ! Bitter the thought. Never before such a Sunday in 
this Western Hemisphere or in the history of the human race — on which 
thirty millions of people pondered the all-absorbing question whether 
the Union and the Government of the people was to live or die. Monday 
morning — the answer is on their lips. It is to live. Abraham Lincoln 
has written it with his own hand. 

" I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the L^nited States, in virtue of the 
power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to 
call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the 
L^nion, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to sup- 
press this combination against the laws, and to cause the laws to be duly 
executed." 

The telegraph flashes it east to Bangor, westward to San Francisco, to 
every city and town. A great hour has come — the beginning of a new 
era in the history of our country. Men read it with quivering lips and 
moistened eyes. For months and years, while the slave-holders have been 
directing the affairs of Government, lower and still lower has burned the 
patriotic fire, but now it flames from the Atlantic to the Pacific shore. 
In every fibre of their being the people feel that the nation shall live. 
Their fortunes, their lives — all the strength that God has given them shall 
be devoted to the preservation of the Union. 

A week ago the people of the Northern States were divided into politi- 
cal parties; now there is only one party. On Sunday afternoon, while the 
ink is still wet on the paper upon which President Lincoln has written his 



THE UPRISING OF THE PEOPLE. 49 

proclamation, Stephen A. Douglas walks with quickened steps to the White 
House. He has been Mr. Lincoln's political antagonist. They were can- 
didates for Senator from Illinois. Through that senatorial contest they 
stood face to face, waging political warfare. Mr. Douglas won. They 
were candidates for the presidency, and Mr. Douglas lost ; but now that 
the Union is in peril, he forgets the past. He knows nothing but the duty 
of the hour. They clasp hands. " We must wage relentless war," are the 
words of Mr. Douglas. " Every man must be for the United States or 
against it ; there can be no neutrals — only patriots and traitors." 

One State was ready to respond to the call of the President — Massa- 
chusetts, which had thirteen thousand citizen soldiers. Massachusetts had 
been foremost in the Revolutionary War. Her citizens had ever been 
ardent lovers of liberty. Most of the leading antislavery men were of 
that State. During the year 1860, the governor, Nathaniel P. Banks, 
looking into the future and apprehending the possible coming of war, 
had taken measures to bring the militia to a high degree of efficiency. 
There had been a mustering of all the troops of the State on the historic 
field of Concord. His successor, John A. Andrew, also looked into the 
future and saw the necessity of having the troops ready to respond at 
any moment to any call which might be made upon them. Benjamin F. 
Butler, citizen of Lowell, who had earnestly supported Breckinridge for 
the presidency, had visited Washington in December to attend a meeting 
of his political i:)arty. To his astonishment, in conversation with a gentle- 
man from Mississippi, lie learned that the South intended to secede from 
the Union. " You men of the North will not fight," said the Mississip- 
pian. " Yes, they will fight," responded Butler. " Who will fight ?" " I 
will." "Oh! there will be plenty of men in the South to take care of 
such as you." "When we march to the defence of the Union we will 
liang on the trees all the men left behind who undertake to break up the 
Union," responded Butler. Returning to Boston, he informed Governor 
Andrew of the intentions of the secessionists. 

There M^as still another citizen of Massachusetts who fully compre- 
hended the designs of the secessionists — Henry Wilson, Senator, like Abra- 
ham Lincoln, a man of the people, who was very poor in early life, but 
who, by patriotic devotion, hard study, and perseverance, had won the con- 
fidence of the people. He had been one of the foremost to resist the ag- 
gressions of slavery, was bold and energetic, and who, whenever he wished 
to know just what to do, made the trip from Washington to Massachusetts 
to learn the opinions of the people. He was an adroit politician, and took 
measures to find out all he could about the plans of the secessionists, and 
4 



50 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



had kept the governor of the State informed as to their intentions. Dur- 
ing the montli of January, Governor Andrew ordered the colonels of regi- 
ments to ascertain who of their commands would be ready to respond 
upon the instant to any call. During the month of February two thou- 
sand ove2*coats were made and other equipments provided. 

" If you have troops ready, forward them at once to Washington," is 
the message which comes to him. Out of the State House men hasten 
with orders. Twenty companies are wanted. The soldiers are scattered 
far and wide, in more than twenty towns, driving teams upon their farms, 










lUss;^*^ 



THE PIG. 



making shoes, pushing the plane ; some are clerks in counting-rooms, or 
laborers in mills where spindles are whirling and shuttles flying. 

Down by the sea-side, where the waves of the Atlantic break upon 
the granite ledges of Marblehead, are men with sunburnt, weather-beaten 
faces, who have braved the storms of the sea. All are sons of toil, rep- 
resentatives of labor. They are men who earn their daily bread. Little 
dream they of the place they are to occupy in history. It is four o'clock 
in the afternoon when a messenger rides up to the house of Caj^tain 
Knott Y. Martin. The captain has killed a pig and is ready to dress it, 
when the messenger hands him a slip of paper. With knife in hand he 
reads it : 



THE UPRISING OF THE PEOPLE. 51 

'•You are ordered to appear with your company on Boston Common 
at the earliest possible moment." He throws down the knife to put on 
his uniform. 

" What will you do with the pig V asks Mrs. Martin. 

" the pig !" 

Not an instant does he wait ; the members of his company must be 
summoned, his knapsack packed. 

Major AVatson, of Lowell, is a lawyer. He has important cases in 
court, with interests of clients- at stake, but he turns the key of his office 
door. Months will pass before he again will enter it. The spiders can 
spin their webs in peace across the windows through the coming summer. 
The dust will be thick upon his briefs before he will again ponder points 
in law. General Benjamin F. Butler leaves his multitudinous law busi- 
ness to take command of the troops hastening to the rendezvous. 

Morning dawns, and in every village there is a beating of drums and 
gathering of citizens to see the soldiers take their departure. The day is 
dark and dreary — the wind east, the storm-clouds flying in from the sea, 
but the streets are filled with people. There is a steady tramping of feet 
upon the pavement, a swinging of hats and loud hurrahs as the companies 
arrive, marching to Faneuil Hall, the building where the nation in its 
infancy was cradled. 

The Sixth Regiment is the first to leave. A great crowd assembles to 
witness its departure and rend the air with their cheers. The next morn- 
ing the troops are in ]S"ew York, marching down Broadway beneath a sea 
of banners. Hundreds of thousands of people cheer them. They break- 
fast at the Astor House. Mr. Colman, the proprietor, will receive no pay 
for what they eat. At Philadelphia they sit down to a sumptuous enter- 
tainment provided by the citizens. In their loyalty they cannot do enough 
for the men who, at a moment's notice, have left everything to save Wash- 
ington from the hands of the Confederates. 

April 19th. It is the anniversary of Lexington and Concord. Eighty- 
six years have rolled away since Major Buttrick marshalled his fifty men 
in the meadows of Concord, with Rev. Mr. Emerson, minister, in the ranks, 
his gun upon his shoulder, and now three of Major Buttrick's descendants 
are whirling towards Washington in response to their country's call. 

They are in Maryland, a slave State, which the secessionists hope to 
secure to the Confederacy. They have stirred up the ruffians of the city 
to prevent the passage of Northern troops to Washington. 

" I fear that you will have trouble in Baltimore," are the words of 
General Davis to Colonel Jones, commanding the regiment. 



52 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

" Load your ginis," is the order of tlie colonel to his men as he pass- 
es through the cars distributing twenty cartridges to each man. The 
cars whirl into the northern depot ; horses are hitched on, and one by one 
they are drawn through the streets. Six companies go through to the 
southern depot before the ruffians can muster their forces ; but a mob 
quickly gathers, digs up the pavement, and hurls the stones into the 
cars. They tear up the rails. The four companies left behind must fight 
their way. The officers are cool and determined. They see that there 
must be a single commander, and elect Captain Follansbee. Clubs and 
stones are liurled upon them. The ruffians bring boxes, barrels, and carts 
to form a barricade, but the troops toss them aside. They are two hun- 
dred and twenty against five thousand. 

" We'll dig your graves!" 

"Down with the Yankee cowards!" 

" Hurrah for Jeff Davis !" 

One by one the soldiers drop. Luther Ladd, Sumner H. JS^eedham, 
Charles A. Taylor, and Addison O. Whitney are killed — the first to give 
their lives tliat the nation may live. The ranks close and the troops 
move on. The mob divides before the advancing columns as the air di- 
vides before an arrow shot from the bow. Besides the four killed, thirty- 
six are wounded. Of the ruffians, no one will ever know how many went 
down. The regiment reaches the cars and the train moves on to Wash- 
ington. 

While the cars are carrying the Massachusetts troops to the Capitol of 
the nation, the people throughout the country are holding mass-meetings, 
and passing resolutions to sustain the Government. In every village 
drums begin to beat. From flag-staff and steeple wave the Stars and 
Stripes. Presidents of banks in Boston hasten to Governor Andrew, offer- 
ing loans. In New York a great meeting is held in Madison Square. 
Some of the newspapers of that city have favored the secessionists, but 
now, under the pressure of the demands of the people, they fling out 
the Stars and Stripes and give their allegiance to Abraham Lincoln. The 
feeling becomes intense when they learn what is going on in Baltimore. 

By the order of the mayor of that city, the bridges on the railroad 
to Philadelphia and Ilarrisburg were burned, so tliat no more troops could 
reach Washington. The secessionists rejoiced in the anticipation that in 
a few days the Confederate flag would be waving over tlie Capitol, and 
tliat Jefferson Davis would be occupying the White House. 

"I will prophesy," said L. P. Walker, Confederate Secretary of War at 
Montgomery, " that the flag of the Confederacy will float over the dome of 



THE UPRISING OF THE PEOPLE. 55 

the Capitol in Washington before the first of May. Let them try South- 
ern chivahy, and it may float eventually over Faneuil Hall in Boston." 

Great events were taking place in Richmond, The State Convention 
was in session. A majority of its members, when elected, Avere opposed 
to secession, as were a majority of the people of the State. Nor is tliere 
much doubt that the majority of the people throughout the South, with 
the exception of South Carolina, were at heart opposed to seceding from 
the Union. But the slave-holders were aggressive, determined to tram- 
ple down all opposition. The men who had brought about the secession of 
the cotton-growing States knew that it was necessary for them to secure 
Virginia. The leaders of the movement in that State, before the firing 
on Sumter, called on Governor Letcher, who at heart was a secessionist, 
but who had sworn to support the Constitution of the United States. 
He had a peculiar feeling of honor, and regard for his oath of ofiice. 
Among those who called upon him were John Seddon, of Richmond, and 
Mr. Lacey, who owned a large estate and many slaves on the Rappahan- 
nock. They presented a plan for seizing Fortress Monroe and the navy 
yard at Norfolk, which would give the Confederacy command of Chesa- 
peake Bay, the war-ships at Norfolk, the immense amount of supplies in 
the ship-yards, and nearly three thousand heavy guns. They included in 
the plan the seizure of the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, where there were 
fifteen thousand muskets and the machinery for the manufacture of arms. 
Mr. Lacey offered his check for ten thousand dollars to carry out the en- 
terprise. Governor Letcher informed them that he was in favor of the 
secession of the State, but until the Convention voted to secede, he would 
not permit the carrying out of their proposed plan. "Wait till the 
Convention secedes, and I will be with you ; but if you attempt it before 
action by the Convention, I will hang you." And yet he laid plans to act 
with great promj^tness the moment the State seceded. 

In order to influence the Convention, the conspirators made a great 
demonstration in Richmond — holding a mass -meeting, employing brass- 
bands, making speeches, inciting the passions of the people, ridiculing 
Abraham Lincoln, dwelling upon the aggressions of the North, glorifying 
the rights of Virginia. They organized a grand procession, and made a 
display of fireworks in the evening. The ladies of Richmond, who 
ardently favored secession, did what they could to help it on by standing 
on the balconies of their homes waving flags and wearing rosettes of red, 
white, and blue. The demonstration had its intended effect. In secret 
session the vote was passed April 17th, with the condition that the ques- 
tion should be submitted to the people for ratification. The secessionists 



56 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

knew that before the day for taking the vote arrived, regiments from the 
other Southern States would be tramping through the State, and that vot- 
ing would be a farce. When the day of election came, the voters of Win- 
chester found a regiment of Louisiana troops guarding the polls. When 
the vote of the Convention was announced, the people of Richmond were 
wild with excitement. Cannon thundered, ladies wav^ed their handker- 
chiefs from window, door-way, and balcony, and a drunken rabble surged 
the streets, hurrahing for Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy. " Yir- 
ginia walks out of the Union like a queen," said the liichmond Exa'tniner. 

In Montgomery, Jefferson Davis and the members of the Confederate 
congress are packing their trunks for removal to Richmond. They will 
make that city tlie capital of the Confederacy till they can take Washing- 
ton. That it would soon be theirs they do not doubt. This is what the 
Richmond Examiner said : " From the mountain-tops and valleys to the 
shores of the sea there is one wild shout of fierce resolve to capture Washing- 
ton City at all and every human hazard. That filthy cage of unclean birds 
must and will assuredly be jDurified by fire. ... It is not to be endured that 
this flight of abolition harpies shall come down from the black North for 
their roosts in the heart of the South, to defile and brutalize the laud. . . . 
Our people can take it — they will take it — and Scott, the arch-traitor, and 
Lincoln, the beast, combined cannot prevent it. The just indignation of an 
outraged and injured people will teach tlie Illinois ape to retrace his jour- 
ney across the borders of the free -negro States still more rapidly than 
lie came, and Scott, the traitor, will be given the opportunity at the same 
time to try the difference between Scott's tactics and the Shanghae drill 
for quick movements. 

" Great cleansing and purification are needed and will be given to that 
festering sink of iniquity — that wallow of Lincohi and Scott — the dese- 
crated city of Washington, and many, indeed, will be the carcasses of dogs 
and caitiffs that will blacken the air upon the gallows before the work is 
accomplished. So let it be." 

On the very hour that the Virginia Convention was voting in secret 
session to secede, Jefferson Davis virtually was declaring war against the 
United States by issuing his proclamation, offering " letters of marque and 
reprisal " to armed ships to capture the unarmed ships belonging to jSTorth- 
ern merchants. The South owned very few ships, while those of the North 
swarmed on every sea. He expected that privateers would soon be capt- 
uring the vessels of the North. Two days later, President Lincoln issued 
a proclamation, which announced the intention of the United States to 
blockade all the ports of the seceding States. 



THE UPRISING OF THE TEOPLE. 57 

Tlie succession and sweep of events was like tlie rusli of a wliirlwind. 
In the arsenal at Harper's Ferry were fifteen thousand mnskets and the 
valuable machines for the manufacture of arms. There was no time 
to remove the muskets. " Three thousand troops are on their way to 
capture the arsenal," was the message which reached Lieutenant Jones, in 
command of tlie arsenal, on the evening of xVpril ISth. The militia of 
Yii'ginia intended to seize the muskets, make their way to Baltimore, 
arm the secessionists there, then march to Washington and hold the Capi- 
tol. It had all been planned in advance by Governor Letchei', and in 
anticipation of the secession of the State. Lieutenant Jones had expected 
such a movement. He received orders from Washington to destroy the 
building, and had piled wood around the stacks of arms and saturated 
the floors with oil. He had watchmen out on all the roads. One came 
with the information that the Virginians were close at hand. The sol- 
diers, sixteen of them, ran with torches and shavings, and the flames 
were soon leaping from the windows and curling through the roof. 
Down the hill came the Virginians, while Lieutenant Jones and the sol- 
diers crossed the river and made their way up the Maryland hills. 

There were thousands of secessionists in Washington ready to rise and 
seize the city. On the day Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated, a major- 
ity of the inhabitants were secessionists at heart, or utterly indifferent to 
the great question of the hour. The Union men discovered their plot. 
General Scott had six companies of L^nited States troops, two batteries, 
and a company of marines whom he could rely upon. The clerks in the 
dc])artments were organized into military companies. Xone was accepted 
who would not swear to sustain the Government. Beneath the trees in 
front of the War Department they held up their hands and made oath 
to 1)6 truly loyal. Fearing that an attempt might be made to assassi- 
nate the President, three hundred citizens guarded the White House, 
cannon were planted to sweep Long Bridge and the bridge at George- 
town. The burning of the arsenal at Harpers Ferry upset the well-laid 
plan. 

At iS"orfolk was the navy yard, with its great ship-houses and buildings 
filled with supplies for the navy; with more than two thousand cannon, 
a quarter of a million pounds of powder, and thousands of cart-loads of 
solid shot and shell, with vessels on the stocks and in the stream, among 
them the new^ frigate Jlerrhnac, carrying forty guns — ten million dollars' 
worth of property. Captain McCauley was commander of the yard. 

" Kemove the Merrimac to Philadelphia at once," was the order that 
came from Washino:ton. An engineer came to work the engines. It was 



58 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 




Saturday, April 12tli ; the cannon were booming at Sumter. If Captain 
McCaulej was not himself a traitor, he was surrounded hj traitors, who 
persuaded him to disobey the orders. The fires had been kindled, but he 
ordered them to be put out. He did not comprehend that he had reached a 

supreme moment in life ; that then 
and there he might write his name 
large upon the scroll of fame — so 
large that people would read it 
with admiration through all com- 
ing time. In the stream, riding at 
anchor, is the frigate Cumber'lmid, 
with twenty - four guns, with a 
loyal crew on board. The milita- 
ry companies of Norfolk are drill- 
inff. He hears their drum -beat. 
He knows that they are meditat- 
ing the seizure of the navy yard. 
How easy for him to say, " The 
moment you attempt it I will 
sweep the streets of Xorfolk clean 
with grape and canister, and level 
it to the ground." Instead of 
that, before Virginia secedes, he permits Governor Letcher to sink vessels 
across the channel to prevent his taking away the llerrimae. 

" I will not remove any of the vessels, nor will I fire a shot except in 
defence," he says to the secessionists, and sets men to work cutting holes 
in the bottom of the Merrimac and the other ships to sink them. 

•Captain Paulding, appointed to supersede McCaulej^ arrives with sev- 
eral hundred Massachusetts troops just in season to see the Merrimac set- 
tle beneath the waves. 

" Save the navy yard if you can, but hold Fortress Monroe in any 
event," are the orders of General Scott. He has not troops enough to 
hold both. Confederate troops are hastening in. He sets the houses and 
ships on fire— the Pennsijlvania, Delaware, and Columhus, each carrying 
seventy-four guns ; the Merrimac, Raritan, and Columbia, frigates, and sev- 
eral smaller vessels. From ground to roof, from hull to top-mast, leap the 
flames, illuminating all the surrounding country. The houses and ships 
are destroyed, but the fire will not burn the cannon, the shot and shell, and 
so at the outset the Confederates obtain enough cannon to arm all their 
forts and batteries. So much lost to the nation, so mucl\ gained by them. 



VORTRESS MONROE. 



THE UPKISING OF THE PEOPLE. 



59 



It was four o'clock in the afternoon, April 19th, when the New York 
Seventh Regiment marched down Broadway. Everywhere — from win- 
dow, door-way, staff, steeple — waved the Stars and Stripes : flags of the 
costliest silk, flags of the homeliest bunting, flags of painted cotton cloth. 
Street, sidewalk, doors, windows, were crowded with people — a sea of hu- 
man faces. Never before such cheers as swelled up from the lips of five 
hundred thousand people. From the armory to the ferry that bore them 
to the Jersey shore it was one prolonged hurrah. Men worth millions of 






^^^S$^SS^i^;S^^;^?s5^Vw^i;^^s^v'l-X 



% 




BURNING NORFOLK NAVY YARD. 



dollars were in the ranks. No more the making of money ; no more 
plans for mercantile transactions. Farewell to ease and comfort. Wel- 
come the weary march, the bivouac, the battle. The nation shall live, per- 
ish everything else. Women become like men, strong of heart, and wave 
their farewells to those most dear without a tear upon their cheeks ; strong 
men become like women, and weep through excess of joy and emotion. 

Not only in New York, but in Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati — in 
every city, town, hamlet of the North — the new tide of life rolls in. 



60 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Gen. Benjiunin F. Butler, with the Massacliusetts Eighth Regiment, 
reached the Susquehanna River at Havre de Grace. " The bridges are 
burned ; you cannot reach Washington," was the word that came to him. 
The great ferrj-boat, the steamer Maryland, was in tlie stream. " Seize 
it," was the order. In a very short time the regiment was on board, and 
the Maryland steaming down Chesapeake Bay for Annapolis. 

The New York Seventh Regiment was steaming down Delaware Bay 
on the steamer Boston, and up the Chesapeake to the same point. 

Great the consternation of the secessionists at Annapolis when the 
Maryland entered the harbor. The Constitution — " Old Ironsides," tlie 
ship that won so many victories in 1812 — was there without a crew. 
The secessionists were planning to take possession, but General Butler was 
too quick for them. The flag of the Confederacy never was to float above 
her deck. 

The secessionists had torn up the railroad ; but the men of the Eighth 
Massachusetts knew how to build railroads, and began to spike down the 
rails. They had taken the locomotive to pieces. ''I helped make this 
locomotive ; there is my mark," said a soldier, who laid aside his musket 
and went to work with a wrench and hammer to put it in order. " Are 
there any soldiers here who can run the engine V asked the colonel. ]Nine- 
teen stepped from the ranks in response. The slave-holders had left out 
of their calculations the greatest factor of all — labor. How little did they 
comprehend, when they began the w^ar, that the laborers — the men who 
worked for th^ir daily bread, the men who wore blue blouses and handled 
wM-enches and hammers, who tiled iron, who pushed the plane, who fol- 
lowed the plough — were the men who would reconstruct what slavery de- 
stroyed. There they were, at the outset, reconstructing the locomotive, 
the railroad, and in the end they would reconstruct the nation. Together 
the Massachusetts Eighth and the New York Seventh relaid the rails and 
made their w^ay to "Washington. 

In Baltimore the secessionists had triumphed for a moment, but up in 
western Maryland, at Frederick and Ilagerstown, the Union men were 
running up the Stars and Stripes. One evening, greatly to the astonish- 
ment of the secessionists, General Butler, at the head of his troops, marched 
into the city, planted the Stars and Stripes, arrested the police-commission- 
ers who were plotting treason, seized all the muskets and pistols they had 
collected, and set men to work repairing the bridges which had been 
burned. The Union men rejoiced ; the secessionists gnashed their teeth. 
The slave-holders were confident that the State would secede. James R. 
Randall wrote the song "My Maryland," which was set to an old German 



THE UPRISING OF THE PEOPLE. 



63 



nieloch' by Miss Carey, of Baltimore. Slie and iier sister, Miss Hetty, 
were ardent secessionists. Their house was regarded by the Union men as 
tlie headquarters of secession. The hidies of Baltimore who sympathized 
with the South met there to make uniforms for Confederate soldiers. The 
song was first sung by Miss Carey in June, 1S61. It was greatly applauded, 
and became very popular. It was sung everywhere throughout the South : 

MARYLAND! MY MARYLAND! 

_± — ^_x_^-__^ — , e_x ±_« — . 0—^-g — — « J 

=T-t:==t=(iz=f=pr=f=:*ir=:i 
= j ?:l=5=»=f=:p=:t=E.-=2i:1 

— i-b — C'—f — F-^— f— f — -J 



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p— ^-* — ^ , •_! -L- • *— ^-* li -m ^ 

i ^-^-» — f — • — F— ^ ^—^ — -^ — I F— ^-» — f — f -■ 

(rp 1 # - t m m , m [__ # g g — | * ^ ^ g 



^^-— — >^— F- ^ — ^ 









:f:=p=^c:z:rt:=it:=rt=^t= 



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Q:|z=:j=Tz^zl=r'=*-=7t:=Tia-_=*=#— 



m- ^ 



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i^ilS 



_T • ^ -, 



"The despot's heel is on thy shore, ' 
His torch is at thy temple door, 
Avenge the patriotic gore 
That flecks the streets of Baltimore, 
And be the battle queen of yore, 
^Maryland ! my Maryland ! 

Vain the song ! Ineffectual 
Richmond and in Baltimore to 






'I hear the distant thunder hum, 
The old-time bugle, fife, and drum-. 
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb, 
Huzza ! she spurns the Northern scum. 
She breathes, she burns, she'll come — she'll come ! 
JIarylaud ! my Maryland !" 

all the machinations of conspirators at 
l)ring about the secession of the State ! 



64: DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

FIRST WEEKS OF THE WAR. 

THE first week in June, 1861, 1 became a correspondent in the army. 
My first observations were at Baltimore. In Boston, ]^ew York, 
Philadelphia, and in all Xorfhern cities patriotism was at flood -tide. 
Everywhere flags were waving; the drum-beat was heard in every village ; 
troops were drilling, companies and regiments organizing. Ladies wore 
Union rosettes of red, white, and blue. The music of the hour was 
" Yankee Doodle " and " Hail Columbia." Baltimore presented a striking 
contrast to the other cities. It was dull and gloomy ; only here and 
there were the Stars and Stripes to be seen. Business was at a standstill. 
It was a Southern city, but the secessionists, who in April had all but 
succeeded in taking the State out of the Union, finding that they had 
been foiled by the vigilance of the Government, were leaving Baltimore 
secretly, and making their way to liichmond to join the Confederate 
army. Ladies who sympathized with the South looked upon the Union 
soldiers as low, mean, vile, hateful creatures. They forgot their high 
breeding and ceased to be ladies when they daintily gathered up their 
skirts and spat at them upon the street. A regiment of Pennsylvania 
troops was drilling near Fort McHenry. A few days before they had 
been driving their teams afield or working in coal-mines, but now they 
were soldiers of the Kepublic. They knew very little of military affairs. 
They came, in their marching, upon a pool of water, and the colonel, 
not knowing the proper word of command to avoid it, shouted, " Gee 
round that hole !" They understood it. Out of such material the mighty 
armies of the Republic were organized. 

Washington, on the other hand, was in a hubbub. TroojDS were pouring 
in, raw, undisciplined, yet of material such as the world had never seen — 
artisans, artists, farmers, mechanics, merchants, printers, painters, poets, 
bankers, men of letters, ministers of the Gospel ; men from every calling 
and occupation -svere in the ranks, responding to the call of the President, 
and obeying the promptings of their own j^atriotic hearts. There was a" 



FIRST WEEKS OF THE WAR. 



G5 



nimble of baggage- wagons in the streets and a constant tramping of men. 
Soldiei-s were quartered in tlie Capitol, spreading their blankets in the 
corridors, (leneral Scott, who had served his country faithfully in the 
war with England in 1812, and in Mexico, was popularly regarded as the 
Hercules of the time. He was a native of Virginia, but was true to the 
old flag. The newspapers in the South were calling him a traitor to Vir- 
ginia. He was seventy-five years of age, and his powers were failing. He 
could walk only with difticulty, but day and night he gave his waning 
energies to his country in this its trying hour. 




' 'y^NN^ 



GENERAL SCOTT. 



Could I have gone to Richmond, I should have seen equal activity in 
that city — regiments of men in gray parading the streets or hurrying 
northward to Manassas or Harper's Ferry. Throughout the South the 
blood of the secessionists, those who believed that the States were superior 
to the Nation, was at fever-heat. Those who still loved the old flas: were 



(IG DEUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

awed into silence. Mr. Sennnes, wlio later in the war commanded the 
Confederate ship Alahama, gives this picture of Mobile the week after 
the firing on Sumter : " I found Mobile, like the rest of the Confederacy, 
in a o'reat state of excitement. It was boiling over with enthusiasm ; the 
young merchants had dropped their day-books and ledgers, and were form- 
ing and drilling companies by night and day, while the older ones were 
discussing the question of the Confederate Treasury, to see how it could 
be supported. The Battle House was thronged, ' and all went merry as 
a marriage bell.' " 

The cotton States had seceded under the hallucination that cotton was 
" king." Jefferson Davis had pictured the glory of the future South, and 
its power, based on slavery. The merchants of New Orleans had brought 
themselves to believe that its commercial greatness would be far superior 
to that of New York; but before the month of April had passed a great 
change came over the city. This is the picture by Mr. Semmes : " I ar- 
rived in New Orleans on Monday, the 22d of April. A great change was 
apparent. The levee was no longer a great mart of commerce, piled wdth 
cotton-bales and with supplies going back to the planter, and densely packed 
with steamers, and thronged with a busy nmltitude. The long lines of 
shipping had been greatly thinned, and a general air of desolation hung 
over the river front. It seemed as though a pestilence brooded over the 
doomed city, and that its inhabitants had fled before the fell destroyer. 
But this first simoom of the desert which had swept over the city, as a 
foretaste of what was to come, had not discouraged its jxitriotic inhabitants. 
The activity of commerce had ceased, but another activity had taken its 
place. War now occupied the thoughts of the multitude, and the sound 
of the drum and the tramp of armed men were heard in the streets. The 
balconies were crowded with lovely women in gay attire to witness the 
military processions, and the Confederate flag in miniature was pinned 
on every bosom." 

Mr. Jones, of Richmond, who kept a record of events during the w^ar, 
gives this picture of Richmond : " The ladies are postponing all engage- 
ments until their lovers have fought the Yankees. Their influence is great. 
Day after day they go in crowds to the Fair -ground, where the First 
South Carolina volunteers are encamped, showering upon them their smiles 
and all the delicacies the city affords. They wine and cake them — and 
they deserve it. They have just taken Fort Sumter, and have won historic 
distinction. They are worth from one hundred thousand to half a million 
dollars each, these rich young men, and are dressed in gray homespun." 

On the 6th of May Arkansas seceded from the Union, and was followed 



FIRST WEEKS OF THE WAR. 69 

by ]^ortli Carolina on tlie 21st and Tennessee on the 8tli of June. In all 
the nionntain region of West Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee 
there were bnt few slaves. The people of that section were liard-working 
men and women, who loved the old flag, and who could not see that thev 
M'ould be any better off in the Confederacy under Jefferson Davis than in 
the Union under Abraham Lincoln. In Kentucky there were eleven 
hundred and sixty thousand people, and of these two hundred and lifty 
thousand were slaves. There were strong ties to bind that State to the 
Union. Through all the years the people had lived in peace with their 
neighbors across the Ohio Hiver, which with its many windings formed 
their northern boundary for nearly eight hundred miles. Young men from 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois had found their true-hearted wives south of the 
river. Many of the citizens of those States liad been born in Kentucky, 
but had settled for life where there were no slaves to degrade their labor. 
There were frequent visits to tlie old homes to see brothers and cousins. 

More than this, the little log-cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was born 
was still standing, and the people of the State — those who did not have 
any slaves — remembering how he struggled with poverty and hardships, 
how he had triumphed over adversity, how he had chopped wood, split 
rails, pulled at the oar on a Mississippi Hat-boat, were not sorry that he 
was President. He had been constitutionally elected. Thej believed in 
fair play. Why should he not be President? Why should Kentucky 
join the Confederacy? Why should the hard-working farmers who held 
with their own hands the plough join a government under which labor 
was regarded as degrading? 

The people of Kentucky had not forgotten the teachings of their great 
statesman, Henry Clay ; they had just erected a beautiful monument of nuir- 
ble to commemorate his virtues and greatness. His voice had ever been 
for the Union. Men advanced in years who had listened to his eloquent 
words rehearsed them to their sons. Old soldiers who liad fought for 
their country under General Harrison and General Scott in Canada, and 
Avho had stood with Jackson behind the breastwork of cotton-bales and 
hogsheads of sugar at Xew Orleans, who were receiving their pensions 
from Government, could not bear to think that the old flag had been in- 
sulted. They took pride in the thought that it had been defended at 
Sumter by a son of Kentucky, Major Anderson. The Rev. Doctor Breck- 
inridge, father of Senator Breckinridge, who had been Vice-president 
under Buchanan, loved the Union. He wielded great influence among 
the Presbyterians of the State. Kentucky did not raise cotton. Very 

few of those who owned slaves had any thought of building up an em- 

5* 



70 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

pire based on slavery. On tlie contrary, many of tliem were willing to 
see slavery abolished, if it could be done peacefully. Such were some of 
the ties which bound the State to the Union. 

The Governor of Kentucky, Mr. McGoffin, was a "States-rights" man, 
and when President Lincoln called upon him for troops to put down the 
rebellion, he rej^lied that Kentucky would take no part in the war, little 
comprehending that in a contest between two forms of society, the one 
based on slave labor and the other on free labor, there could be no neutral 
ground ; that before many weeks the people of the State would range 
themselves on one side or the other. 

The planters of Missouri, who cultivated tobacco and hemp, and owned 
slaves, had done what they could to make Kansas a slave State. Like 
the planters of Virginia, they raised slaves for the Southern market. 
Many of them were originally from Virginia, others from Kentucky. 
But emigrants from Germany had been pouring into the State, especially 
into St. Louis. They hated slavery ; they crossed the ocean to become 
American citizens ; they couhl not understand the provincial pride of the 
secessionists which made a State of more consequence than the IN^ation. 
They were all for the Union, as were a majority of the American-born 
citizens of Missouri. Claiborne F. Jackson became governor January 1, 
1861, and did what he could to bring about the withdrawal of the State 
from the Union. A convention w^as called, but not a single secession 
delegate was elected. It was a bitter disappointment to the South. It 
upset all the plans which liad been laid by Jackson for arming the State 
before turning it over to the Confederacy. 

There were a few far-seeing men in St. Louis who loved the L^^nion, 
and who determined to tlnvart the secessionists. One of these level-headed 
men was Francis F. Blair. In December he called the leading Union men 
together for consultation. " The State authorities," he said, "• are working 
to bring about secession. There are sixty thousand muskets in the United 
States arsenal which they intend to seize. We must form a military or- 
ganization to prevent it," Seventy-three names were enrolled, and Blair 
was chosen captain. It was the first military organization formed in the 
country to maintain the Union. Other companies were soon organized. 
They called themselves Home Guards. 

The hot-blooded young Southerners began to organize themselves as 
minute-men, under the lead of Basil W. Duke. Their special object was 
to gain possession of the arms. The commander of the arsenal, wdio was 
from North Carolina, had an understanding with Governor Jackson in 
regard to turning it over to the State ; but this plan was upset by the 



FIRST WEEKS OF THE WAR. 



71 



arrival of another officer sent by General Scott to command the United 
States troops, to take charge of the property of the United States at 
St. Louis, Nathaniel P. Lyon, of Connecticut, bold, fearless, resolute. He 
erected barricades around the building. 

Under the laws the Governor had the right to order out the militia 
for drill. He sent a messenger to Jefferson Davis for cannon and mus- 
kets. The secession militia under General Frost were in camp just out 
of St. Louis. When Fort Sumter was fired upon, and President Lincoln 




F. p. BLAIR. 



called upon the governors for troops, Governor Jackson replied that Mis- 
souri would furnish no troops to coerce a sister State, wliereupon Blair 
telegraphed that Missouri would furnish her share, and the Home Guards 
were mustered into the service of the United States. 

Strange -lookino; boxes were landed on the levee in the darkness of 
the night. May Sth, from a steamer just arrived from Memphis. A sharp- 
eyed man was lounging along the levee, and as the boxes were tumbled 
out he saw that they were heavy. " Marble," was the label. He saw 



72 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

them loaded upon drajs. He had the curiosity to follow them till thej 
reached Camp Jackson. 

It was a nice carriage which drove out to Camp Jackson on the morn- 
ing of May 9th. It contained a gentleman and lady. The sentinels ad- 
mitted it, and it was driven over the field leisurely where the soldiers 
were drilling. The lady admired their marching. She saw soldiers open- 
ing the boxes of marble. They had changed to cannon, shot, and shell. 
The lady drove to her lodgings, took off her bonnet and gown, and put 
on her hat and uniform — -no longer a woman, but Captain Lyon of the 
United States army. 

Two o'clock p. M. The Home Guards are marching through the 
streets. They are six regiments, with six pieces of artillery. Half the 
regiments march through one street, half through another, very rapidly, as 
if seeing how fast they can keep step to the drumbeat. They reach the 
open field and turn towards Camp Jackson. The cannon unlimber and 
the gunners stand by their pieces. 

General Frost beholds it in amazement. 

" Your command is regarded as hostile to the United States. I de- 
mand your surrender, with no other conditions than that all persons shall 
be humanely and kindly treated," are the words of Captain Lyon. 

General Frost sees that he is in a trap, with no chance to escape, and 
therefore surrenders. Thus, again, all the plans of the slave-holders and 
secessionists are overturned in Missouri. 

Ruffians in the street shook their fists at the Home Guards, threw pav- 
ing-stones, drew their pistols and fired. The Guards returned the fire, 
and for a few moments tliere was a melee, in which several soldiers and 
citizens were killed and others wounded ; but the Stars and Stripes were 
not to go down in St. Louis, and that great commercial centre was thus 
saved to the Union. 

When you look at the maj) of Virginia you will notice that the 
Appalachian Mountains lie in successive ranges, like the waves of the 
sea. East of the mountains the country is a succession of plateaus and 
plains all the M'ay to Cliesapeake Bay. It was in this section that the 
Cavaliers of England, when that State was settled, laid out their broad 
])lantations, built their spacious mansions, and cultivated their fields of 
tobacco. The people who lived in the mountains were hunters, lumber- 
men, and coal -miners. They had small farms. They traded with the 
inhabitants of Wheeling more than with the merchants at Richmond. 
AV^liat they had to sell found a better and more convenient market west- 
ward than eastward. 



/ ' 

FIRST WEEKS OF THE WAR. 75 

In the section of the State east of the mountains there were nearly 
lialf a million slaves ; in the country between the Blue Ridge and the 
Ohio River less than twenty thousand. 

The people of West Virginia had no sympathy with secession. In 
June, delegates from forty counties met at AVheeling and repudiated 
what had been done at Richmond. They formed a State government, and 
elected F. II. Pierpont governor. So the State which had gloried in the 
name of the Dominion, before a month had passed after voting to secede 
lost one-half of her domain. 

Confederate troops were gathering at Ilai'pers Ferry and at Manassas 
.Junction, There were several companies at Alexandria. Arlington 
House, the home of Robert E. Lee, who had been greatly trusted by 
General Scott, but who had resigned his commission to become a major- 
general under Jefferson Davis, was within cannon - shot of the White 
House. "Washington will be ours before many days," was the boast of 
the newspapers at Richmond. General Scott saw that Arlington and 
Alexandria must be occupied, or some morning cannon-shot Avould be 
crashing through the White House. 

The moon was shining, the air calm and still, at two o'clock on the 
morning of May 24th, when the soldiers rolled up their blankets,, fell 
silently into line, and moved towards the bridges crossing the Potomac. 
They were commanded by Genei'al McDowell. Three regiments marched 
through Georgetown, four across Long Bridge, while the regiment of 
Zouaves under Colonel Ellsworth went on board a steamer, which moved 
down the river to Alexandria, where the gunboat Pawnee was Ij'ing. 
The Zouaves landed, swept through the streets, the Confederates fleeing 
to Manassas. A Confederate flag was flying over a hotel kept by a Mr. 
Jackson. Colonel Ellsworth climbed the roof and pulled it down, lie 
was descending the narrow stairs when he was shot dead by the land- 
lord, who in turn was shot by one of the Zouaves. The IS^orthern people 
said that Jackson was an assassin, wdiile the Southern people regarded 
him as a martyr to liberty. 

Through the South there was great indignation because the troops 
of the Union had invaded the State of Vii'ginia. " Tiie minions of 
Abraham Lincoln must be driven from the sacred soil of the State," said 
the Richmond papers. Troops from other Southern States were tramp- 
ing through the State controlling the voting on the day of election, but 
the newspapers published no protest. 

"Brave Virginians," said the Charleston Courier^ "and all true sons 
of the South, will cling to their true and honored flas: with more zeal 



lO 



\ 

DRUM-BEAT OF TH^E NATION. 



and devotion, and, if compelled to fall beneath it, will sell their lives 
dearly, strikinej especially at the leaders and officers of the insolent and 
invading hirelings and ruffians who seek to disgrace the chosen standard 
of a redeemed people." 

" The corner-stone of the Confederacy is African slavery," said Alex- 
ander H. Stevens, Vice-president of the Confederacy. "Our negroes will 
do the shovelling while our brave cavaliers will do the fighting," said one 
of the Richmond newspapers. But before a battle had been fought the 
corner-stone began to crumble. 

The slave-holdei'S around Norfolk and Hampton, in Eastern Virginia, 
sent their slaves with shovels to throw up fortifications. Some of the 



// 



s: 




BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



slaves, watching their opportunity when night came, crept through the 
woods, swam rivers, and made their way to Fortress Monroe. General 
Benjamin F. Butler was there wuth Massachusetts and New York troops. 
The slaves knew instinctively that the Union soldiers were their friends, 
that the slave-holders had begun the war to perpetuate slavery. The 
colored people had never studied logic, did not know the meaning of the 
word, did not know a letter of the alphabet, but they comprehended the 
meaning of this gathering of armies — that it was a war between slavery 
and freedom. 



FIRST WEEKS OF THE WAR. 77 

One slave named Luke made his way to Fortress Monroe, and became 
a servant to Captain Tyler. 

Luke's owner, Colonel Mallory, came to get him. " It" j'ou will take 
the oath of allegiance to the United States I will give him up," said 
General Butler. The negroes in the canip heard of it, and w-ere much 
excited. Luke, with tears upon his cheeks, came to Captain Tjler. '' I 
don't think that you will be sent back, for General Butler has not any 
authority to send you." A moment ago the negroes were weeping and 
moaning, but now they were wild with joy. The news spread. General 
Butler heard of it, and ordered Captain Tyler to appear before him. 

" I understand, sir," said the general, " that you have been telling the 
negroes that they can't be sent back to their masters. Now, sir, I want 
to know by what authority you have told them so ?" 

" By the authority of common-sense." 

" AVhat do you mean by that, sir ?" 

"The case is this: Luke's former master sent him to work on the 
Confederate fortiiications ; that act made Luke contraband of war, and 
liable to be confiscated to the United States in case he should ever be 
found within our lines, either by his own act or by the advance of our 
troops. While thus employed he escaped to our lines ; that extinguished 
his master's right. Luke instantly acquired what he never had had be- 
fore — freedom. His master cannot demand him, for he held him only as 
property, and employed that property in acts of war against the United 
States. The United States cannot hold him as a chattel, because, as a 
government, we do not recognize slavery as a national institution. Luke, 
as property, is contraband of war, and confiscated to the United States. 
He is free ; nor can he ever again legally be a slave," 

" Slaves are contraband of war," was the proclamation made by 
General Butler, and sent out from Fortress Monroe. 

Never had the men who laid their plans to build the Confederacy 
and perpetuate slaveiy dreamed that the institution, before a battle had 
been fought, would begin to settle from its foundations. They began to 
see that military law was far different from civil law. Colonel Mallory 
and all the other planters went sadly back to their homes. Thousands 
of dollars' worth of property had walked away, nor was there any law 
by which they could recover it. 

A few days before Virginia seceded. Lieutenant-colonel John Bank- 
head Magruder, of the United States Artillery, called upon President 
Lincoln and said, "Mr. President, every one else may desert you, but I 
never will." Two days later he was in Bichmond, offering liis services 



78 DEUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

to Jefferson Davis. He was sent to Yorktown to command the Confed- 
erate troops gathering at that point. He impressed slaves to work on 
tlie fortifications. One of them escaped to Fortress Monroe. 

"Massa Magruder is building forts," said the slave, George Scott. 
Major Theodore Winthrop, private secretary and aide to General Butler, 
went with him up the road towards Big Bethel, creeping through the 
woods, getting so near that Major Winthrop obtained a good view of tlie 
fortifications. General Butler resolved to make an attack, and Major Win- 
throp drew a plan for the movement and made this note : " George 
Scott is to have a shooting-ikon." 

Military law, the week before, had assumed superiority to statute law 
by making slaves contraband of war, and now this clear-headed young 
man, who, before the war began, was writing delightful literary articles, 
saw what none of the statesmen had discovered, that the same law which 
made slaves contraband of war for working on rebel fortifications would 
in like manner give them the right to bear arms. The people of the 
North, however, were reluctant to accept that conclusion. Not till many 
thousands of brave men had laid down their lives would they consent to 
tlie enrolling of the freed men as soldiers of the Republic. 

General Pierce commanded the expedition to Bethel, composed of two 
columns, one marching from Hampton, under Colonel Duryea, the other 
from Newport News, under Colonel Bendix. It was a night march, and 
" Boston " was the watchword. The soldiers were to wear a piece of white 
cotton cloth on the left arm. Unfortunately, the officer who was to attend 
to that service forgot to inform Colonel Bendix, and his men fired into 
the other column, killing two and wounding ten. General Pierce captured 
thirty prisoners at Little Bethel, but the alarm was given, and Magruder 
had ample time to make preparations. 

It was ten in the morning when the Union troops reached Big Bethel. 
The men had marched all night, had had no breakfast, and were weary ; 
the sun was hot ; the Confederates were in a strong position behind breast- 
works mounting several guns. Unwisely tlie attack was ordered. Lieu- 
tenant Greble, commanding the two pieces of artillery, the only cannon, 
opened fire. The Zouaves advanced through the woods on the right of 
the road, the other regiments through a cornfield and orchard. The Union 
troops were six regiments ; the Confederate not (piite so many, but were 
behind breastworks, with cannon, which made them much the strongest. 
Lieutenant Greble aimed his cannon with accuracy, and silenced several of 
the enemy's guns, but fell mortall}^ wounded. The battle went on till the 
ammunition of the Union troops was spent and they retreated, having lost 



FIRST WEEKS OF THE WAR. 



81 




GREBLE 
TOWNSEND'S HALT 
J. ^ 
* '--iCORNFIECD 











20UAVESS ■'i i - f 2l 



forty men killed and M'ounded. Among tlie killed wei'e Lieutenant 
Greble and Major AVinthrop, beloved and lamented. The Kichmond 
newspapers magnilied the affair into a great victory. 

From Staunton, the first week in June, General Garnett, with several 
Confederate regiments and six cannon, marched north-west over the 
mountains to Beverly, in West Yirginia, to hold that region. He reached 
Beverly, where there are two turnpikes, one 
running nearly north, through a pass in Lau- 
rel Mountain, the other north-west, through 
a pass in Bich Mountain. He sent Colonel 
Pegram up the turnpike which runs over 
Bich Mountain with six cannon. Pegram 
crossed the summit, went almost down to 
Boaring Creek, threw up breastworks, felled 
trees, planted his cannon, and pitched his 
tents. General Garnett M-ent up the other 
turnpike to Laurel Mountain. "These are 
the two gate -ways to the north-western 
country," he said. 

Troops from Ohio had crossed the Ohio 
Biver at Wheeling to protect the Baltimore 
and Ohio Bailroad. They w^ere commanded 
by General McClellan, who was a lieutenant 

in the war with Mexico. When war broke out between France and Eng- 
land and Bussia, he was sent by Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, 
to the Crimea to make observations. He had been appointed major-gen- 
eral by the Governor of Ohio, and was protecting the railroad east of 
Wheeling. 

General McClellan detached General Morris with five regiments to 
make a feint of attacking the Confederates 
moved with the rest of his force from the toM 
ing Creek against Pegram, who was in a sti 
L^nion brigades was connnanded by General 
posed to make a flank movement, climb the n 
rebels, while McClellan made a show of attac 
satisfactor3% and was accepted. 

At daylight on the morning of June 

He has four regiments — nineteen hundred 

along the mountain sides, the rain is pouri 

clothes of the soldiers are soaked with rai 

6 



MAP OF BETHEL. 



^rountain, and 

Roar- 

jf the 

.0 pro- 

■ of the 

>lan was 

as starts. 

re rolling 
pping, the 
3 forenoon 



82 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



they pick their way up tlie steep ascent soutli of the tunij)ike, A fanner 
guides them. Walking by his side is Colonel Lander, who, before the war 
began, piloted a body of troops through the passes of the Rocky Mount- 
ains to Oregon. The farmer's knees shake from fear ; he can go no far- 
ther, and Colonel Lander pushes on, picking out a ]-oute for the soldiers. 

They gain the top of the ridge, rest a few moments, and then turn 
north, inarching along the crest of the mountain towards the turnpike. 




GENERAL MoCLELLAN. 



Colonel Pegratci, fearing a movement upon his rear, has sent three 
iumdred men and two cannon back to the house of Mr. ILart. The Con- 
federate soldiers are behind breastworks. 

It is three o'clock before General Kosecrans reaches Mr. Hart's farm. 
The soldiers are wet and weary, but advance to the attack. The Confed- 



FIRST WEEKS OF THE WAR. 



83 



erate cannon open fire. The Union troops pour in their volleys, and tlie 
Confederates throw down their guns and flee, panic-stricken, into tlie 
woods, leaving tlieir cannon and all their supplies. 

Great was the commotion in Colonel Pegram's camp at Roaring Creek. 
The soldiers left everything and rushed up the mountain -side, stealing 
along the summit northward, hoping to make their way to Laurel Mount- 
ain. But they never reached General Garnett, who, hearing of the disas- 
ter, and finding his retreat cut off by General McClellan, who crossed Rich 
Mountain and took possession of the turnpike at Beverly, fled north along 
a mountain road. The road was narrow and rough. His teamsters liad 
hard work to get along. He had thirty-five hundred soldiers, but they 
lost all heart, and began to drop out of the ranks. 

General Morris was following, and overtook Garnett at Carrick's Ford. 
There was a booming of cannon and rattling of musketry for a few mo- 
ments, but the disheartened Confeder- 
ates soon fled to the next ford, where 
they rallied once more, and where 
General Garnett was killed. With 
his fall all fled in terror, throwing 
away their guns. 

General Rosecrans plaimed and 
executed the movement by which the 
two gate-ways had been opened, which 
annihilated the Confederates and se- 
cured Western Virginia to the Union. ' 
General McClellan, however, was com- 
mander-in-chief, and received the 
honor. He sent a despatch wdiich 
electrified the country : '' Garnett and 
forces routed, his army demolished, 

(xarnett killed. We have annihilated the enemy in Western Virginia, 
have lost thirteen killed and not more than forty wounded. We have, 
in all, killed at least two hundred of the enemy, and their prisoners will 
amount to at least one thousand. Have taken seven guns in all. The 
troops defeated are the crack regiments of Eastern Virginia, aided by 
Georgians, Tennesseeans, Carolinians. Our success is complete, and seces- 
sion is killed in this country." 

Like the bulletins which Xapoleon was accustomed to issue, and which 
electrified the people of France, so this despatch awakened the enthusiasm 
of the people, who looked upon McClellan as a great connnander. The 




MAP OF RICH MOUNTAIN. 



84 



DRUxM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



routing of Garnett and Pegrani secured West Virginia permanently to 
tlie Union, and made McClellan commander-in-cliief of the armies of the 
United States. 

Passing once more to the West, we see Governor Jackson of Missouri 
doing what iie can to help on the Confederate cause. Captain Ljon has 
been appointed general bj President Lincoln. Jackson sends a message 
proposing that the State remain neutral. A conference is held in the 
Planter's House, St. Louis. 

"Rather," said Lyon, "than concede to the State of Missouri the right 

to demand that Government 
shall not enlist troops with- 
in her limits, or bring troops 
into the State whenever it 
please, or move its troops at 
its own will, I would see 
every man, woman, and child 
in the State dead and buried. 
This means war." 

Governor Jackson hast- 
ened to Jefferson City, is- 
sued a proclamation calling 
the people to arms, burned 
the bridges on the railroad 
leading to St. Louis and 
across the Osage River, and 
fled southward. General 
Lyon Avas quick to act. He started up the Missouri River on steamboats, 
came upon a party of Jackson's troops at Booneville, quickly routing 
them. It was a blow which secured Missouri to the L^nion. Thousands 
who had hesitated gave their allegiance to the Government, and enlisted 
to put down the rebellion. 

The newspapers of the South at this period of the war ridiculed the 
Northern troo])s. Said the Mobile xidvertlser : 

" The Northern soldiers prefer enlisting to starvation ; scurv}^ fellows 
from the back slums of cities. Bnt these are not soldiers, least of all 
to meet the hot - blooded, thorough - bred, impetuous men of the South ; 
trencher soldiers, who enlisted to war upon rations, not upon men. 
They are such as marched through Baltimore, squalid, wretched, ragged, 
half-naked, as the newspapers of that city report them ; fellows who do 
cot know the breech of a musket from its muzzle ; white slaves, peddling 




GENEKAI LYON. 



FIRST WEEKS OF THE WAR. 85 

wretches, small-change knaves, and vagrants, the offscouring of the popu- 
lous cities. These are the levied forces which Lincoln arrays as candi- 
dates for the honor of being slaughtered by gentlemen such as Mobile 
sends to battle. Let them come South, and we will put our negroes to 
the dirty work of killing them. But they will not come South ; not a 
wretch of them will live on this side of the border longer than it will 
take us to reach the ground to drive them off." 

There was also foolish boasting in the newspapers of the North ; the 
people were confident that the war would not last more than a month 
or two. The Secretary of State, William H. Seward, expressed the opin- 
ion that it would be over in three months. It was believed that the 
Union men in the Southern States would rise against the secessionists. 
On the other hand, the Confederates believed that those in the North 
opposed to the war would rise against the Government. The farthest- 
sighted, whether living North or South, had little conception of what 
the conflict was to be, how vast its proportions, how tremendous in 
results. 



86 DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FIRST GREAT BATTLE. -' 

''P^IIE mustering of armies began. Mountains, rivers, railroads — tlie 
-■- physical geography of a country — were to determine military cam- 
paigns. The great Appalachian chain of mountains covers a wide section 
of country ; it was plain that the great movements of armies must be 
either east or west of this region. In the east two Union armies were 
gathering: one at Chambersburg, in Pennsylvania, the other at Alexan- 
dria, in Yirginia, commanded respectivel}^ by Generals Patterson and 
McDowell. General McDowell issued- an order to the troops to respect 
private property. Officers were to keep a strict account of all land taken 
for camps, to estimate all damage in the destruction of fences or buildings, 
or trees cut down, and to obtain the names of the owners that they might 
be reimbursed. Very few men at the beginning had any comprehension 
of what destruction would come to the South. 

Two Confederate armies were gathering in Virginia: one at Manassas, 
under General Beauregard, the other at Harper's Fei-ry, under General 
Joseph E. Johnston. On June 6th Beauregard issued this address to the 
people of Loudon, Fairfax, and Prince William counties: 

"A reckless and unprincipled tyrant has invaded your soil. Abraham Lincoln, re- 
gardless of all moral, legal, and constitutional restraints, has thrown his abolition hosts 
among you, who are murdering and imprisoning your citizens, conliscating and destroying 
your propert}', and committing other acts of violence and outrage too shocking and re- 
volting to humanity to be enumerated. 

" All rules of civilized warfare are abandoned, and they proclaim by their acts, if not 
on their banners, that their war-cry is 'Beauty and Booty.' All that is dear to man — 
your honor, and that of your wives and daughters, your fortunes and your lives, are in- 
volved in this momentous conflict." 

It is not to be supposed that General Beauregard sincerely believed 
what he had written. He had been in the service of the United States 
more than twenty years. When South Carolina seceded he was in command 
of the military school at West Point, mingling with the refined, intelligent 

t 



THE FIRST GREAT BATTLE. 



87 



people of jSTew York. lie knew that tliey were not what he represented 
them to be, and that the address was a shinder. It was the spirit of slavery 
and the madness of the liour that prompted him. 

General Johnston was stationed at Harper's Ferry, because it was sup- 
posed to be an important position. Jefferson Davis said that it was a nat- 
ural fortress, and that it commanded the Shenandoah Valley. The military 
men at Washington made the same mistake. It commanded nothing. 

The Union army gathering at Chambersbnrg, Pennsylvania, was de- 
signed to confront that under Johnston. General Patterson had served in 
Mexico. He was sixty-nine 
years old, indecisive, easily 
influenced. He advanced to 
Williamsport, on the Poto- 
mac, above Harper's Ferry, 
whereupon Johnston spiked 
the heavy cannon which he 
had brought up from Nor- 
folk Navy-yard and placed 
in position, and retreated 
to AVinchester, more than 
twenty miles. General Pat- 
terson could not comprehend 
it, neither could his brigade 
commander, General Cad- 
wallader, nor his adjutant- 
general, Fitz-Jolm Porter. 

" I believe it is designed for a decoy ; there may be a deep-laid plot to 
deceive us," wrote Patterson. "Tlie whole affair is a riddle," said Cad- 
wallader. But it was not a decoy; it was plain common -sense on the 
part of Johnston, who saw that the position had no particular military 
value ; that Patterson could march past him, gain his rear, and cut off his 
retreat. In studying the war, we are to consider that the generals in com- 
mand at the beginning knew very little about war except what they 
learned from books, and that some of them never had commanded even 
a company. A large nund)er were made generals because they had been 
prominent in political affairs. 

General Scott, commander-in-chief of the Union armies, planned a cam- 
paign. The people demanded that the armies should move. " On to 
Richmond !" was the cry. The rebellion must be crushed. At Alexandria 
and Arlington were between thirty and forty thousand troops, under Gen- 




MAP OF BULL RUN. 



88 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



eral McDowell, confronted by the Confederate army under Beauregard, 
supposed to number twenty -five thousand. McDowell was to advance 
against Beauregard, and Patterson, at the same moment, was to move upon 
Johnston at Winchester. General Scott was apprehensive that Johnston 
would make a quick movement, join Beauregard, and outnumber McDow- 
ell, and he very emphatically informed Patterson that he must not permit 
any such movement. He assured McDowell that if Johnston attempted 




GENERAL MoDOWELL. 



it he would have Patterson at his heels. Patterson had twenty-two thou- 
sand men, Jolmston about twelve thousand. 

From the beginning the Confederates artfully and successfully deceived 
the Union generals as to their numbers. The timid Patterson accepted as 
truth all the stories told by men who came from Winchester pretending 
to be Union men, but who w'ere spies. " Johnston has forty-two thousand 
men and fifty cannon," said one. General Scott and the War Department 



THE FIRST GREAT BATTLE. 89 

knew better ; bnt tliei-e was very little relicable information as to what was 
going on in Richmond or in the Confederate lines, while Jefferson Davis 
had accnrate accounts of matters at Washington. AVhen the war begun 
it was a Southern city, and a large number of the people sympathized 
with the South. They were in the Departments, in position to know all 
the secret movements. There was an organized mail-route between Wash- 
ington and Richmond. Every evening a man left the city on horseback, 
riding eastward to Port Tobacco. The country around is very poor. One 
hundred and fifty years ago there were tobacco plantations, with gangs 
of slaves cultivating the ground. Now the once waving fields are over- 
grown with pines, and Port Tobacco is a sleepy place. The people of 
that region were in sympathy with the South. 

On the bluff overlooking the Potomac stood the house of Mr. Watson, 
who had a son in General Lee's army. Across the Potomac, in Virginia, 
stood the house of Mr. Grimes. These gentlemen owned boats, and used 
to ferry people across the river in the night who carried percussion-caps, 
quinine, and other things purchased in Baltimore, to Richmond, making 
a great deal of money. There were Union gunboats in the river and 
soldiers on land ; but Mr. AVatson had a daughter whose sympathies were 
with the Southern army, and who kept a sharp lookout for the gunboats 
and soldiers. When neither was near she hung out a shawl from her 
chandler window as a signal to Mr. Grimes that the coast was clear, and 
when night came, light skiffs darted out from the creek along the shore 
and glided across the river. Mr. Jones, who lived near Mr. Watson,, was 
the Confederate mail-agent ; his post-office was a hollow tree at the foot 
of the bluff. When night came he made his way with letters and news- 
papers through the thick pines to the bank of the river, leaving the pack- 
ages in the hollow tree, and taking those that he found there. He knew 
where the Union sentinels were, and how to avoid them. Every day 
when the New York newspapers arrived at Annapolis, a Confederate 
agent made up a 'package, which before night was in the hands of Mr. 
Jones, and which the next night would be in Richmond, Mr. Grimes send- 
ing a messenger across the country with the bag. 

We come to July IStli. The time of the soldiers called out for three 
months has nearly expired ; the movement to Manassas must be made at 
once, or not at all. General Patterson is at Martinsburg, and marches to 
Bunker Hill, within nine miles of Winchester. He has no definite plan. 

On the morning of the 16th the cavalry makes a reconnoissance, and 
finds the Confederates in line of battle behind stone walls north of Win- 
chester. There are three thiuirs which Patterson can do, either of which 



90 



URUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



will be effective : attack Johnston, make a feint of attacking, or take a 
position which will prevent him from joining Beauregard. He does 
neither, but retreats to Charlestown, leaving Johnston free to move in 
any direction. There is no donbt that Patterson, np to the evening of 
the 16th, intended to attack, but that Fitz-John Porter, his adjutant- 
general, for some reason was opposed, and did what he could to per- 
suade him to move to Charlestown. So, on the morning of the 17th, 
we see the army especially instructed to prevent a junction of the two 
Confederate armies deliberately moving away. 




GENERAL J. E. JOHNSTON. 



General Beauregard knew that McDowell was getting ready to march 
towards Manassasi, and sent Colonel Chestnut, who had been a clerk in the 
War Department, to Washington to obtain information. He crossed the 
Potomac below Alexandria in tlie night, reached the city in the early 
morning of the IGth, and ate breakfast at the house of a friend. His 
friend's wife wrote these words on a scrap of paper : " Orders issued to 
McDowell to march to Manassas to-day." She had a confidential friend 
in the War Department who secretly synipathized with the South. Colo- 
nel Chestnut jumped into a buggy, was driven by a friend down the north 
bank of the Potomac to a spot where a boat was drawn up beneath the 



THE FIRST GREAT BATTLE. 91 

bushes, and was ferried across tlie river. Before nightfall Beauregard was 
reading the information. 

The army under McDowell is in five divisions, commanded by Gen- 
erals Tyler, Ifunter, Ileiiitzelman, Miles, and Runyon. The troops for 
active service number about twenty-eight thousand, with forty-nine cannon. 

At noon, July 16th, the division under Tjder takes np the line of march. 
There has been much talk about masked batteries. The orders for the 
movement contain the following cautions : " The three following things will 
not be pardonable in any commander : to come upon a battery or breast- 
work without a knowledge of its j^osition ; to be surprised ; to fall back." 

The march is very slow. The troops stop when they please, to pick 
blackberries or rest themselves, but the bands strike up now and then, and 
the column moves on in glee, never doubting that in a few days the army 
will be in Richmond, and the rebellion ended. On the ITtli it is nine 
o'clock before the troops are on the march, and the movement is slower 
than ever, for fear of masked batteries. General Tyler comes upon a body 
of Confederates at Germantown with two cannon who make a rapid re- 
treat. The newspaper correspondents, in their eagerness for news, enter 
Germantown in advance of the troops. So rapid the retreat of the Con- 
federates that the sick in the hospital are left behind, together with a 
large amount of flour, several barrels of sugar, wnth frying-pans and kettles. 
Just beyond Germantown a baggage wagon has broken down, and the 
driver has cut the harnesses from the horses and is scampering towards 
Centreville, all of which puts the troops in the best of spirits. 

At nine on the morning of the 18th the army is in motion once more, 
the correspondents in advance, climbing over the abandoned breastworks 
at Centreville, and learning all the news before the troops arrive. 

At noon Richardson's brigade turns south to reconnoitre the ground 
towards Bull Run in the vicinity of Blackburn's Ford. The skirmishers 
discover a Confederate battery with troops. It is Longstreet's brigade. 
General Tyler orders up Ayres's battery, places two cannon in position, 
and a shell goes screaming across Bull Run, strikes a house, exploding 
inside, teai'ing away the chimney, and spoiling General Beauregard's dinner 
cooking over the fire. The next moment a shell comes from the woods 
down by Bull Run which explodes above the Union cavalry, setting the 
horses to dancing and wounding two men. General Tyler makes a mis- 
take in sending Ayres with his two guns down the slope, followed by 
Richardson's brigade. Suddenly there comes a volley from beneath the 
green foliage along the winding stream, and the air is thick with leaden 
rain. A white cloud rises above the trees, and a wild yell, not a cheer, 



92 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATIOX. 



not a hurrah, but more like the war-whoop of the painted warrior of the 
Western- plains, is heard above the din of battle. It was Longstreet's bri- 
gade delivering its first volley, and sending out its first battle-cry, often re- 
peated during succeeding months. Hichardson's men hurrah in turn. The 
firing is quick and sharp. Longstreet's men are thrown into confusion, and 
he sends to General Early for assistance. General Tyler is beneath the 

peach-trees near a small house over- 
looking the field ; he walks nerv- 
ously, and finally orders the troops 
to withdraw. Between sixty and 
seventy men have been killed or 
wounded. The loss on the Confed- 
erate side has been about the same. 
Tyler had exceeded his orders, and 
nothing had been gained. The 
Confederates regarded it as a great 
victor}^, while the Union troops 
looked at it in the light of a re- 
pulse. It had disarranged General 
McDowelFs jDlans. 

Returning now to the Shenan- 
doah Valley, we see General Johns- 
ton at this moment reading this 
despatch from Richmond : " Gen- 
eral Beauregard attacked ; go to his 
assistance." The way is clear, for 
Patterson marched towards Charlestown at daybreak, and is eighteen miles 
away. A few moments later the soldiers of Jackson's brigade are on their 
way to^yards Ashby's Gap, in the mountain wall bounding the eastern 
horizon. Seventeen miles will take them to Piedmont on the Manassas 
Railroad. Major Whiting gallops in advance, to have engines and cars 
in waiting. At eight o'clock the next morning the troops are in the cars, 
whirling towards Manassas. 

Bull Run is a branch of the Occoquon River, rising in the Bull Run 
Mountains, running south-east through a beautiful reach of fields, pasture, 
and woodland. As we go up stream from the Occoquon we come to 
McLean's Ford. Another mile brings us to Blackburn's. Two miles farther 
and we are at a stone bridge on the turnpike leading a little south of west 
from Centreville to Warrenton. There are several places above the bridge 
where the stream may be forded. Two miles more brings us to Mr. Sud- 




GENERAL LONGSTKEET. 



THE FIRST GREAT BATTLE. 95 

ley's mill, with its great water-wheel. A road crosses the stream by the 
mill leadino; south to Manassas. Lea vino; the run and o:oini»: down the 
road, we pass a little church in a grove of oaks, A mile and a half brings us 
to the house of Mr. Matthews, on the east side of the road, with woods ex- 
tending eastward towards the stone bridge. There is a beautiful field west 
of the house. Looking across the field, we see the house of Mr. Dogan. 
Going on, we descend a gentle slope, and come to a pretty little brook 
trickling over a rocky bed eastward towards Bull Run. It is Young's 
Branch, and empties into Bull Bun below the bridge. The turn])ike is 
built alongside. We pass a stone house at the junction of the roads, and 
then ascend a hill. There is a grove of young pines and cedars on the 
right hand. East of the road is Mr. Henry's house ; across the field, still 
farther east, is the house of Mr. Robinson. We see a lone tree in the field 
a few rods south of Mr. Henry's, and a short distance beyond a I'ail fence, 
with a thicket of pines. 

In making this itinerary we have traversed the ground Oii which the 
first great battle of the war was fought. 

On the afternoon of the 18th General Beauregard had his troops along 
Bull Run, facing east. He had nearly twenty-two thousand men, with 
twenty -nine cannon. His brigades were stationed as follows: farthest 
down stream, at Union Mills, were Ewell's and Holmes's ; at McLean's 
Ford, Jones's and Early's ; at Blackburn's Ford, Longstreet's. Next came 
Bonham's, Cocke's, and Evans's, holding the line covering all the fords and 
the turnpike bridge. On Friday and Saturday, while McDowell's troops 
are resting at Centreville, Johnston's troops are being transported over 
the railroad. Jackson's brigade is the first to arrive, and is placed near 
Longstreet's brigade. Bee's and Bartow's brigades are in reserve between 
McLean's and Blackburn's fords. Johnston brings nearly nine thousand 
men and twenty-two cannon. General Holmes, who has been south of 
the Occoquon, comes with his brigade and six guns. The consolidated 
Confederate force numbers thirty-two thousand and seventy-two men and 
fifty-seven cannon. 

McDowell's engineers are riding along Bull Run, seeking a place 
where the troops can cross. They discover Poplar Ford, one mile above 
the bridge, but learn that there is a much better crossing at Mr. Sudley's 
mill. McDowell intended to attack the Confederate right flank, but the 
intrenchments are so strong that he must make a new^ plan, and he decides 
to leave Richardson's brigade to make a demonstration at Blackburn's 
Ford, to send General Tyler with the remainder of his division down 
the turnpike, to nud^e a show of attacking, to march with Hunter's and 



96 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 




POSITION AT 3 A.M. 



Ileintzelmairs divisions tliroiigli tlie fields and woods in the niglit to 
Siidlej's Ford, march down the road leading towards Manassas, and strike 

the Confederate left flank and rear. 
At the right time Tyler is to change 
his demonstration to a real attack, cross 
the stream, and join Hunter and Ileiut- 
zelman. 

It is Saturday night. Going over 
to the house of Mr. McLean, we see 
Beauregard and Johnston in consulta- 
tion. Johnston is the senior officer, 
but as Beauregard is familiar with the 
ground, defers to his judgment. Beau- 
regard proposes that they cross Bull 
Run and attack McDowell's rear at 
Centreville. Johnston accepts the plan, and the order is written for the 
movement on Sunday morning. 

It is two o'clock in the morning when the troops of Tylers division 
fold their blankets and move down tlie turnpike towards the stone bridge. 
A mistake has been made at the outset. Hunter and Ileintzelman ought 
to have been the first to move ; they have a long distance to marcii. 
Tyler's men block the way. The flanking column ought to be at the 
ford at sunrise, but it is nine o'clock, and the sun high in the heavens, 
l>efore the head of the column reaches the old milL The marcli has been 
tediously slow. "When the soldiers reach the ford they stop to fill their 
canteens and munch their meat and bread, but finally cross the stream and 
move down the road. 

Half-past five. Confederate officers are carrying the oi'ders to the sev- 
eral brigade commanders to attack McDowell, when the stillness of the 
peaceful morn is broken by a single cannon on the turnpike east of the 
bridge. It is Ayres's battery beginning the battle. His second shot passes 
through the tent of Captain Alexander, a signal-officer to Beauregard. A 
moment later the guns with Richardson's brigade open their brazen lijDS. 
General Tyler sends a company of skirmishers towards the bridge. There 
is a rattle of musketry, a booming of cannon, but nothing more. Tyler 
made a mistake on Thursday in attacking with too much vigor ; now he 
is over -cautious, and Beauregard and Johnston soon discover that it is a 
feint. 

Just before the troops reached Sudley's mill Mr. Cunningham, who 
lives near the mill, discovered them, ran to his stable, mounted his horse, 



THE FIRST GREAT BATTLE. 97 

crossed the stream, dashed down the Manassas Road, and informed tlie 
pickets of Evans's brigade that tlie Yankees were coming to turn their 
flank. Evans, without waiting for orders, changes front and marches 
north towards the house of Mr. Matthews. 

General Burnside, commanding the leading brigade of Union troops 
in Hunter's division, throws out the Second Rhode Island Regiment as 
skirmishers. They move nervously through the woods and fields. Sud- 
denly there bursts upon them a rattling fire from Evans's men. Two 
cannon open upon them. For half an hour the contest goes on in this 
fashion. Hunter makes the mistake of attacking slowly when it should 
be with vigor, and with a force strong enough to sweep Evans in an in- 
stant from the field. "Wheet's battalion of Confederates comes upon the 
run to help Evans, but receives a volley which is very destructive. And 
now the brigades of Bee and Bartow, six regiments of Johnston's troops, 
hasten across the turnpike, with Imboden's battery of four pieces, the 
horses upon the gallop. HI'- 

Just as these Confederate regiments are coming into position General 
Hunter is wounded by a piece of shell, and is carried to the rear, and 
General Andrew Porter assumes command. In a few moments the four 
Union regiments of Burnside's brigade are engaged, together with Reyn- 
olds's battery, which the Confederates attempt to capture, but are stopped 
by Sykes's battalion of regulars, which General Porter brings into line. 
Griffin's Union battery comes upon the gallop and wheels into position, 
and opens fire. Burnside's officers are falling ; Colonel Slocum is mortally 
wounded. Colonel Marston receives a bullet in his shoulder, Major Balch 
falls, with one leg crushed by a cannon-ball. General Porter has sent 
Sykes east of the road, but the other regiments and Griffin's battery are 
west of it, the line extending towards Dogan's house. Ricketts's Union 
batter}', near Dogan's, joins in the conflict. 

The fire of the Union troops is so destructive that General Bee orders 
the Confederates to fall back. They go faster and farther than he in- 
tended, down the slope, across Young's Branch, up the hill to Mr. Henry's 
house, wliere Imboden's battery is stationed. The battle has opened fa- 
vorably for the Union troops. There comes a lull. It is past eleven, and 
the advance regiments of Heintzelman are just coming upon the field, 
swinging out towards Dogan's house. If their bayonets had flashed in the 
sunlight an hour earlier, far different, in all probability, would have been 
the result. 

Looking eastward, we see Sherman's and Reyes's brigades of Tyler's 
division marching up the east bank of Bull Run to Poplar Ford, crossing 
■7 



98 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



the stream, turning south, and advancing towards the turnpike. They 
could not cross by the bridge, because it was covered by a Confederate 
battery ; besides, the report was current that it was mined, and would be 
blown up the moment the Union troops attempted to cross. 

Af ten o'clock General Beauregard is at Mitchell's Ford, waiting 
to hear the opening of the battle at Centreville, towards which General 
Ewell is slowly advancing. He hears instead a cannon in the direction 
of the north-west. " There is a cloud of dust towards Sudley's Ford," 
is the report of the signal-officer. The cannonade increases, and there 
are volleys of musketry. The conviction comes to Beauregard that 







ROBINSON S HOUSE. 



McDowell is turning his left flank. " March towards the sound of bat- 
tle," is the order to all the brigade commanders, and Johnston and Beau- 
regard both ride as fast as their horses will carry them towards the 
Henry house, Beauregard taking command of the troops east of the 
house, Johnston west of it. They come out of the woods south of the 
house, and see the troops of Bee, Bartow, and Evans retreating in disorder 
up the hill. The lines are broken, the fugitives are streaming down the 
road towards Manassas. The officers are trying to stop them. A few 
turn about, but the greater number keep on. " Every segment of line," 
says General Beauregard, " we succeeded in forming, was again dissolved 
while another was being formed. More than two thousand men were 



THE FIRST GREAT BATTLE. 



99 



shouting, each some suggestion to his neighbor, their voices mingling with 
the noise of the shells exploding amid the trees overhead, and all word of 
command was drowned in the confusion and uproar." 

General Jackson's brigade has arrived, and stands bj the fence in .the 
thicket of pines south of Mr. Henry's. Jackson has drilled his men, and has 
been strict in discipline. If some of the men feel like running, the_y do 
not go. General Bee sees them, and thus calls out to his wavering men, 




STONEWALL JACKSON. 



" See Jackson standing like a stone wall !" Possibly it does not have 
much effect upon the Alabama and Mississippi regiments under him, but 
he has made " Stonewall Jackson " evermore a historic name. 

The Confederate line at this moment, with the exception of Jackson's 
brigade, is in great confusion. Towards Manassas stream the fugitives, 
crying that all is lost. " The disorder," says Beauregard, " seemed irre- 
trievable ; but the thought came to me that if their colors were planted out 



100 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



to the front the men might rally ronnd them. I gave the order, wliich 
was executed. The soldiers advanced, and the line was formed." 

It was a position much higher than the ground on which McDowell 
was forming for an advance, and the Confederate artillery could send a 
plunging lire upon the Union troops. 

It is two o'clock Sunday afternoon. The Union troops began their 
march at midnight, have come twelve miles, have only nibbled a little hard 
bread and bit of meat, and are Aveary and thirsty. A scorching sun has 
beaten upon them. The lines are growing thin. There is little discipline. 
Soldiers leave to get water, and do not return. I stand upon the roof of 
a house overlooking the field and see the brigades of Sherman, Franklin, 
Wilcox, and Porter advancing towards the houses of Mr. Kobinson and 
Henry ; Burnside is resting on the ground from which the Confederates 
have been driven ; Howard's brigade is moving towards the turnpike by 
Dogan's house ; Keyes's brigade is near the stone bridge. There are parts 
of fourteen Union regiments advancing to assail the Confederate line. 

At this moment nearly every Confederate brigade is hastening towards 
the spot, where the uproar is going on, with a quicker cannonade and live- 
lier volleys of musketry. There are twenty- two Confederate cannon 
pouring a' heavy fire upon the advancing men in blue, and twelve regi- 
ments delivering their volleys, only three of which, with six cannon, belong 

to the army under Beauregard ; the 
others belong to the army from the 
Shenandoah, under Johnston. 

The batteries of Griftin and Rick- 
etts are on the plateau east of Dogan's. 
They have been nobly served, and 
the Confederates have all been driven 
across Young's Branch southward. 
General McDowell at this moment 
commits another error: he orders the 
batteries to go across the stream in 
advance of the infantry. Ricketts 
does not like the order, but he is a 
soldier in the regular army, and believes in obeying commands. The 
battery moves down the road, crosses the stream, ascends the hill tow- 
ards the Henry house, and opens fire at close range. The Confederate 
sharp-shooters behind the picket-fence and under the peach-trees begin 
to pick off his horses, but he rains canister upon them and riddles the 
house with shells. Mrs. Henry, old and feeble, is killed, and the sharp- 




CONFEDEKATE POSITION 5 P.M. 



THE FIRST GREAT BATTLE. 101 

shooters are compelled to retreat. Griffin comes, with his liorses upon 
the gallop, across the stream, and takes position to the left of Ricketts. , 
Major Barry, chief of artillery, has brought him the order to take this 
position. He, too, has objected, not having any infantry supports. 

" The Zouaves will support you," says Barry. 

" Why not let them go in advance until I get into position ? then they 
can fall back." 

" It is McDowell's order for you to go." 

" That settles it ; but mark my words, the Zouaves will not support me." 

A ball has lodged in one of the guns and it cannot be used. The other 
five open, and with Ricketts's deliver a destructive fire. 

From my position I can see a dust-cloud in the west rising above the 
tree-tops. A little later a regiment comes out of the woods south of the 
turnpike and west of the road leading to Manassas. The men are in 
gray, as are several of the Union regiments. They climb over a rail-fence. 
The colonel walks along the ranks as if saying something to them. Griffin 
sees them, believes them to be Confederates, and wheels his guns to mow 
them down with canister. The cannon are loaded, and the gunners stand 
ready to send the double-shotted charges into the line. 

We have arrived at a turning-point in the history of our country. 

"Dont fire!" It is Major Barry, commanding the artillery, who 

shouts it. 

" They are rebels," Griffin replies. 

"No, they are your supports." 

The Fourteenth New York Regiment has gone up into the woods, to 
the right of Griffin's battery, and Major Barry makes a mistake in sup- 
posing that the men in gray, which have just come out of the wood, are 
those who a few moments ago entered it. 

" Sure as the world, they are rebels !" Griffin shouts again. 

"I know that they are your supports." 

Griffin wheels his guns in the other direction towards the Henry 
house, and opens fire once more. The officer addressing the men in gray 
has finished his speech, and now faces them to the left, marches a few 
rods, faces them to the right, as deliberately as if at drill in camp, advances 
steadily towards Griffin, then comes to a halt. The men bring their guns 
to a level, and take aim. There is a flash, a white cloud, a roll of nms- 
ketry. The air is filled with leaden hail. Men and horses go down. 
Hardly one of the gunners that is not killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. 
The horses plunge madly down the ravine. The Zouaves in rear of Griffin 
behold the spectacle in amazement, then break, and stream over the field 



102 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

towards Dogan's house, a few only remaining to fire parting shots. In 
.vain the efforts of the officers to rally them. 

The men in gray that have given this deliberate volley are the troops 
of General E. Kirby Smith, the last of Johnston's army. They left the 
cars at the point where the railroad crosses the Warrenton turnpike, and 
have come upon the run down the pike and through the fields, guided by 
the sound of the cannon and the white cloud rising above the tree-tops. 
"Without orders from Beauregard, Johnston, or any one. Smith has j)0ured 
in his volley, changing the tide of affairs. 

Five minutes ago, and the fortunes of the hour were setting against the 
Confederates. Five minutes ago, and Grifiin and Ricketts, if they had 
done what they were about to do, would have cut Smith's brigade to pieces. 
One round from those eleven guns, double-shotted, would have made great 
gaps in those ranks, and have sent the living a routed rabble to the rear. 

For a short time the contest goes on. The Thirty-third Virginia ad- 
vances to seize the cannon, but are driven by the First Michigan of "Wil- 
cox's brigade. General Howard's brigade is advancing at the moment up 
the slope towards the Henry house. It delivers its volleys, holds its 
ground a while, but at last begins to melt away. Going over to the left 
near the Robinson house, we see Sherman's brigade, which has come across 
Bull Run, crossing Young's Branch, marching up the hill, pouring in a 
deliberate fire. At this moment the Confederate troops, animated by the 
destruction wrought by Smith's brigade of two thousand five hundred, 
redouble their energy. Men who a moment ago were faint-hearted, who 
were just ready to give way, take on fresh courage. Stragglers return, 
new troops arrive. On the other hand, the Union army has lost its aggres- 
sive energy. Under the disaster it begins to melt away. The troops 
fall back down the hill to the turnpike. There is no reserve behind which 
they can be rallied, and the tide drifts back over the ground wrested from 
the Confederates in the forenoon. 

There are daj^s when the air is calm, no breath rippling the placid 
waters — so calm that the aspen leaf ceases to be tremulous ; but suddenly, 
we know not whence, there comes a gentle breeze, which catches up the 
finest dust, whirling it in widening circles, gathering straws and sticks and 
broken twigs, whirling faster, in larger circles, with louder noise and wild 
commotion, sweeping over field and plain, hill and dale, levelling fences 
and houses, twisting trees like withes, becoming the uncontrolled devas- 
tating tornado. 

Such a whirlwind arises. Just where it begun it is not possible to say, 
but somewhere on the field men started to run. "Why they ran it would 



THE FIRST GREAT BATTLE. 103 

not be easy to say, for the Confederates were not in pursuit. A body of 
Confederate cav^alry a little later rode towards the Union hospital ; another 
company dashed across Bull Run near the bridge ; and though the exploits 
of the Virginia Black Horse Cavalry, of which every horseman regarded 
himself as a " cavalier," were the themes of the hour, but there was no 
grand charge. 

The panic was far greater among the teamsters and the crowd of sight- 
seers that had gone out from Washington to see the battle than among 
the troops. The turnpike was crowded with army wagons. The team- 
sters stopped, not to inquire as to what had happened, but cut their horses 
loose, mounting one, handing the others over to the frightened Zouaves, 
and all dashing towards Centrcville. Members of Congress had come from 
Washington in carriages, and the frighteiied drivers lashed their horses to 
a run. I was drinking at a spring near the stone bridge, a few rods south 
of the turnpike, when the whirlwind came sweeping across the stream. 
I had just left General Schenck's brigade. Captain Carlisle, commanding 
a battery, had taken the bits from the mouths of his horses and was feed- 
ing them when the Confederate Black Horse battalion came through the 
woods. Ayres's guns opened upon the cavalry, sending canister into their 
ranks, and scattering the force in an instant. Having done this, Ayres 
came tearing along the turnj^ike towards Cub Run, gaining the eastern 
bank, wheeling into position, and standing ready to hurl destruction upon 
the Confederates. Not so fortunate Carlisle, who was compelled to leave 
four of his guns because the bridge across Cub Run broke down. . It would 
not be an accurate statement were I to say that all the troops were panic- 
stricken ; far otherwise. Many of the regiments left the field in good 
order, returning to Centreville by the route of the morning. There was 
disorder at Centreville through the incompetency of Colonel Miles, who 
after the battle was accused before a court-martial of being intoxicated. 
The only guns lost on the field were those of Griffin and Ricketts, the 
others were lost through the breaking down of the bridge at Cub Run. 

General McDowell rallied the troops at Centreville, and thought of 
making a stand at that point, but decided to fall back to Washington ; 
and so through the night the army which had marched to Centreville with 
confident expecta-tion of victory, which had been all but secured, made its 
weary way back to Alexandria and Arlington, leaving twenty-five of its 
cannon and nearly fifteen hundred men, killed and wounded, upon the 
plateau of Bull Run. The Confederate loss in men was greater; but 
Beauregard and Johnston had secured the prestige of victory almost at 
the moment of defeat. 



104- DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE CLOSE OF 1861. 

" TT^VERY one believes," wrote one of the clerks at Richmond in his 
J— i diary, " that our banners will wave in the streets of Washington in 
a few days, and the Union army will be expelled from Maryland ; that 
peace will be consummated on the banks of the Schuylkill." The people 
of the South were wild over the victory of Bull Run. Many thousands 
who had hesitated to join the Confederate army now hastened to enroll 
themselves. It was the universal belief that Jefferson Davis would soon 
be in the White House, and the flag of the Confederacy waving above the 
Capitol. 

The people of the Korth had not dreamed of defeat, and the disap- 
pointment was very bitter ; but as the lightning clears the murky air on a 
sultry summer day, so the defeat cleared tlie vision, and they compre- 
hended that the war was to be a conflict vast in its proportions, and to be 
waged to the bitter end. 

Cost what it might, tlie rebellion must be crushed, was the resolve of 
every loyal heart. 

" Three hundred thousand men are called for to suppress the rebellion," 
was the message which flashed over the wires from AVasliington. People 
left their occupations — the farmer his plough, the mechanic his hammer, 
the joiner his plane, the salesman his yardstick, scholars their books. Men 
worth a million dollars enlisted as privates, ready to give life and fortune 
to their country. In every village drums were beating, soldiers marching. 

They must be fed and clothed ; they must have guns, cartridge-boxes, 
knapsacks, tents, and wagons. For the closing of the Southern seaports 
ships must be built. Never before was there such a commotion in the 
Northern States. Labor, wliich the slave-holder had despised, suddenly 
became a giant, and was getting ready to put forth its strength. 

General Scott was too far advanced in life, and too feeble, to be com- 
mander-in-chief of the army ; but there must be a commander, and Gen- 
eral McClellan, who had won the battle of Rich Mountain, in AVest Vir- 



THE CLOSE OF 1861. 105 

ginia, was selected. Tlmt battle was a small affair, but it had compelled 
the Confederates to abandon that section of country, and General McClel- 
lan was already regarded as a great commander. lie was called to Wash- 
ington, and commissioned by President Lincoln. 

"General McClellan would like to meet the correspondents in Washington. Please 
be at Willard's Hotel this evening at eight o'clock." 

Such was the invitation which the newspaper correspondents received 
on the morning of August 1, 1861. They assembled at the hotel, stepped 
into omnibuses, were taken to General McClellan's headquarters, and in- 
troduced to him. 

" I have one request to make — that you will be careful not to write 
anything from which the enemy will learn what is going on," he said. 

His words were few, but pleasant. The next day all the country was 
reading about the interview ; how General McClellan looked and acted. 
One correspondent said that he resembled Napoleon Bonaparte, and the 
people began to speak of him as " Little Napoleon," and to have great ex- 
pectations of victory with such an officer as commander-in-chief. 

It takes much money to carry on a great war — to pay the soldiers and 
officers, and buy horses, tents, wagons, muskets, swords, cannon, boots, 
clothing, oats, corn, hay ; to build ships and steamboats. 

" Which will win, the North or the South ?" was the question a banker 
in London asked of Baron Rothschild, who had a great deal of money, and 
who never lent it without getting good security and interest. 

" The North." 

"Why?" 

" Because it has the longest purse." 

It is industry that keeps the purse full. Baron Rothschild knew that 
the Southern people had no manufactories; that they had invented no 
labor-saving machines ; that their property was in land and slaves. He 
knew that they had only cotton and tobacco to sell ; that with all the sea- 
ports blockaded they would have no market ; that the slaves might run 
away or be set free, and that in a short time they would be of little value. 

He knew that the people of the North had set mill-wheels to whirling, 
and were employing the energy of nature to do the work of human hands ; 
that their property was in small, farms, houses, mills, machinery ; that labor 
wa& free; that it could tax itself; that it could borrow money, promising 
to pay in the future. This far-seeing man comprehended that the South- 
ern people would see their property disappear ; that they would exhaust 
the country of supplies ; that they would create a debt which they never 



106 DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

would be able to pay ; and that after a while the Confederacy, reared on 
slave labor, would go down with a crash. 

This story of the war would be very incomplete were I to leave out 
the position and influence of England in the struggle. Yery soon after 
the surrender of Fort Sumter, and before Mr. Charles Francis Adams, who 
had been appointed Minister to England, reached London, the British Gov- 
ernment recognized the Confederates as belligerents — or as a people exer- 
cising war powers — which the people of the United States regarded as a 
very unfriendly act. But the great manufacturers of England who wanted 
cotton, the merchants who wanted to sell goods, saw that if the Southern 
ports were blockaded all trade with the Southern States would cease. They 
were greatly offended, also, because Congress, in order to get money to 
carry on the war, put a high tax on all goods manufactured in other coun- 
tries and brought to the United States for sale. So it came about that the 
manufacturers, merchants, and traders of Great Britain sympathized with 
the Southern people. They subscribed money to buy cannon, muskets, 
powder, and shells, which they gave to the Confederates, They built fast- 
sailing ships, and loaded them with all kinds of goods to run the blockade, 
sailing from Liverpool for the Bahama Islands, which lie only two hun- 
dred miles east of the coast of Florida, thence for Charleston, running past 
the blockading - vessels at night, supplying the Confederates with arms, 
ammunition, and supplies, and carrying cotton back to England. 

Most of the nobles, dukes, lords, and barons hoped the government 
which the people of the United States had established would be destroyed. 
Their sympathy was with the people of the South. Most of the newspa- 
pers in England praised the Southern people as gentlemen fighting for the 
freedom of their country against the l^orthern people, whom they called 
low-born, selfish Yankees. 

" The North," said the London Times^ when it received the news of 
the battle of Bull Run, " has lost all — ^^even military honor. We have been 
cheated out of our sympathies. We don't like to laugh. Seventy-five 
thousand American patriots have fled twenty miles in an agony of fear, 
though there was nobody pursuing them. The United States of America 
have ceased to be. The Union has burst asunder by explosive forces gen- 
erated within itself, and now the two republics stand like cliffs which of 
old were the same rock, but which can never be united." 

The men who owned cotton mills wanted the South to triumph; not 
so the men and women who tended the spinning frames and looms in Lin- 
colnshire. They had little cotton to spin and little food to eat, but when 
times were hardest, when their cheeks were thin and pale for want of food, 



THE CLOSE OF 1861. 107 

wlien their children were asking for bread, they came together and held 
prayer-meetings, asking Almighty God to give victory to the people of 
the Northern States. They knew that it was a struggle between free and 
slave labor ; that the people of the North were fighting a battle for the 
oppressed of every land. 

" For mankind are one in spirit, and an instinct bears along 
Round the earth's electric circle the flash of right or wrong." 

Turning once more to the distant West, we see General Lyon in south- 
western Missouri, at Springfield, with about five thousand men, most of 
whom are soon to return to their homes, the term of enlistment being 
nearly expired. They are, many of them, without shoes ; their uniforms 
are in tatters. General Lyon has called for reinforcements, but the Gov- 
ernment has calls from every quarter. It is the 8th of August, and on 
the lith the time of the three months' men will expire. There is a Con- 
federate army at Wilson's Creek, ten miles beyond Springfield, towards 
the south-west, under General McCulloch and General Price. General 
Lyon estimated them at twenty thousand ; General Price's adjutant-gen- 
eral, Sneed, says that there were eleven thousand. It is probable that the 
Confederates outnumbered the Union soldiers nearly three to one. An- 
other Confederate army, under General Hardee, numbering nine thousand, 
farther east, was advancing to get between General Lyon and St. Louis, 
thus cutting off his retreat. 

We must not forget that the people of Missouri are taking sides as in 
no other State. The great majority are for the Union. Shall General 
Lyon abandon this section of the State? Shall he turn back from the 
people who are looking to the old flag for protection ? The Confederates 
have a large force of cavalry, and if he attempts to retreat, the cavalry 
will gain the advance, McCulloch will follow in swift pursuit, and his lit- 
tle force will be ground to powder. He believes it will be far better to 
advance and strike a powerful blow before retreating. 

The sun has gone down, the stars are shining. The day has been hot 
and sultry, but the night is cool and refreshing. The soldiers eat their 
supper, the battery horses munch their corn. At nine o'clock the bugles 
sound, and the artillerymen jump upon their seats. The drums tap light- 
ly, and the soldiers fall into line. The columns wheel into the road— one, 
under Colonel Sigel, with six guns, taking a road which leads soutli ; the 
other, under General Lyon, leading south-west. Colonel Sigel is to attack 
the right flank and rear of the Confederates, while General Lyon is to 
hurl his troops upon their front. A small force is left to guard the camp. 



108 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

General Lyon had in his column the First Missouri, First Iowa, First 
and Second Kansas regiments, two companies of the Second Missouri Rifle- 
men, eight comjDanies of United States Regulars, ten cannon, two com- 
panies of cavalry — about three thousand Ave liundred. 

Colonel Sigel had the Third and Fifth Missouri regiments, six cannon, 
and two companies of cavalry — about one thousand one hundred. Colonel 
Sigel was to make the attack, and when General Lyon lieard the sound of 
his cannon he was to attack in front. 

Wilson's Creek is a small stream winding amid wooded swells of land, 
with here and there a field or pasture. 

The morning was dawning. Some of the Confederate soldiers were 
asleep, others rekindling their fires and putting their frying-pans upon the 
coals, cutting slices of ham for their breakfast, when they heard a rattling 
of musketry a mile away. A picket came running in. " The Yankees are 
coming !" he shouted. 

The drums beat the long roll, the bugles sounded ; frying-pans were 
tossed aside ; soldiers ran hither and thither. The regiments formed 
in hot haste, for General Lyon was driving in the pickets. Captain Tot- 
ten's battery was sending its shells into camp from the north, and Sigel's 
guns were opening from the east. 

We see General Lyon's line moving down the road, the battalion of 
regulars, under Captain Plummer, in advance. Major Osterhaus com- 
mands the skirmishers on the right. Captain Totten wheels his six can- 
non into position, and the shells go hissing into the Confederate camp. 
Lieutenant-colonel Andrews, with the First Missouri, supports him. The 
First Kansas comes up on the left. L^p the ridge they drive the Confed- 
erates. 

Leaving General Lyon's troops for a moment, let us go through the 
woods south-east to the other road, on which Sigel is moving. His two 
companies of cavalry are in advance. In the dim gray of the morning tlie 
cavalrymen see Confederate soldiers coming down the road from their 
i2amp with pails and kettles, on their way to the creek for water. The 
cavalrymen ride into the fields, circle around them, and the Confederates 
suddenly discover that they are prisoners. 

The troops press on. They can see the white tents of the Confederates 
on the sloj^e of a hill. The smoke is curling up from the camp-fires. 
Sigel whirls four cannon into position and opens fire. There is a sudden 
commotion. Some of the Confederates flee, panic-stricken, through the 
fields. Far better for Sigel — far better for the fortunes of the day, if, in- 
stead of firing, he had pressed on with his troops ; then he could have capt- 



THE CLOSE OF 1861. 



109 




ured many prisoners. The Third and Fifth regiments crossed the creek 
and took possession of the camp. He had fallen upon the Commissary De- 
partment of the Confederate army. Around the camp were quarters of 
beef hanging on stakes and 
poles. Tliere was a corral of 
cattle, another of horses. 

The Confederate troops had 
fled, but they were rallying on 
another hill, Sigel brought 
up his cannon and once more 
opened fire. He could hear 
the uproar on the other road 
growing louder and coming 
nearer. Lyon was advancing. 
Looking across the liills tow- 
ards the north-west he could 
see the battle-cloud rising above 
the tree-tops. General Lyon is 
driving all before him, was the 
thought that came to him. 

" Lyon's men are coming up 
the road towards us," said Si- 
geFs skirmishers. 

Lieutenant-colonel Albert, commanding the Third Missouri Regiment, 
and Colonel Salomen, commanding "the Fifth, saw a brigade of troops com- 
ing through the fields. Above them floated the Stars and Stripes. The 
color-bearer was waving it as a signal to them not to fire. 

" They are Lyon's troops. Don't fire !" said the ofiicer. The men 
stand at ease. The advancing, line halts. Suddenly muskets flame, and 
shells from a battery crash through the woods. 

" They are Lyon's troops firing on us !" The cry runs along the line. 
tTp, almost to the muzzles of Sigel's cannon, rush the Confederates, shoot- 
ing horses, capturing five of the guns, killing and wounding nearly three 
hundred men. Back through the fields flee Sigel's troops — their part in 
the battle ended. 

Passing over now to the Confederate camp, we see General McCulloch 
marshalling his forces. It is half-past five when the rattle of musketry 
breaks on the skirmish line. 

In front of the position where General Lyon is advancing are the 
troops connnanded by Generals Slade, Clark, McBride, Parsons, and Rains. 



CAMPAIGN IN MISSOUKI. 



110 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION'. 

They file towards tlie left. Captain Woodruff, with his six cannon, comes 
into position and replies to Totten's guns. Colonel Herbert, with his 
Louisiana regiment, and Colonel Mcintosh's Arkansas regiment join them, 
marching up to a rail-fence enclosing a cornfield, coming against the Union 
regulars under Captain Plummer and the troops from Kansas. 

Forward and backward, through the scrubby oaks, surge the lines of 
battle, the Confederates greatly outnumbering the Union troops. 

General McCulloch hears the thundering of Sigel's guns upon his rear. 
Leaving General Sterling Price in command of the troops in front of 
Lyon, he marches east with Churchill's and Greer's regiments of Missouri- 
ans, two companies of Louisiana troops, and Eeid's battery. 

General McCulloch, in his report of the Ijattle, makes no mention of 
the \vay in which he deceived Sigel by marching with the Stars and 
Stripes, but nevertheless, according to Sigel's account, under its protect- 
ing folds he advanced close up to the unsuspecting troops before opening 
fli-e ; — at a volley putting Sigel to rout and enabling McCulloch to wheel 
about and march back to confront Lyon, who is driving all before him. 
The hill on which the contest has raged is thickly strewn with the dead 
and dying. The battle is going against the Confederates on the left. 
McCulloch throws in Carroll's, Greer's, McLitosh's, and the Louisiana reg- 
iments. These are not enough. General Tearce's brigade, the last reserve, 
is called upon. Reid's battery comes to take part. 

Once more let us go back to the Union lines. From a hill overlook- 
ing the field where the Confederates are standing, amid the sheltering 
corn-rows, Captain Dubois's and Captain Totten's pieces are still thunder- 
ing. The Missourians in Lyon's regiments look across the space between 
the two lines and see old acquaintances in the Confederate ranks. The 
Confederates recognize them in turn. 

There are no hatreds like those engendered by civil war. Old-time 
friends become implacable enemies, ready to fight to the bitter end. 

Some of General Lyon's regiments have fired away all their ammuni- 
tion. A soldier of a Missouri regiment has fired the last bullet that will 
fit his gun, but has some of large size. He sits down beneath a tree and 
begins to whittle them. 

" What are you doing ?" asks an officer. 

" Whittling the bullets to fit my gun." 

"Don't stop to do that. Look into the cartridge-boxes of the men 
who have been killed ; you will find some that wU\ fit your gun." 

In a few moments he is loading and firing once more. 

Colonel Gordon Granger is on General Lyon's staff. There is a gap 



THE CLOSE OF 1861. Ill 

between two regiments, and as he looks over to the Confederate line he 
discovers a regiment preparing to rush in. He brings three companies 
into the intervening space. "Lie down in the grass. Don't show your- 
selves. "Wait till I give the word," are his orders. The men lie low. 
Up the slope march the Confederates. There is a blaze and rattle, and 
many of the Confederates reel to the earth. Back over the field flee the 
living. 

General Lyon has been wounded in one leg, a bullet has struck his 
head. Blood-stains are on his face. He has put his last battalion into 
the line. His horse has been killed, and he has mounted a second. Al- 
together, he has but a handful of troops. Sigel is routed ; McCulloch is 
bringing up every Confederate soldier, outnumbering him three to one. 

" I fear the day is lost," General Lyon says ; but he rides along the 
line, swinging his hat and encouraging the men. They rally round him, 
and follow him into the thick of the fight. A bullet pierces his breast, 
and he falls from his horse dead. The army has lost its great-hearted 
leader. Only those around him know of it. Though dead, his bravery 
has so stirred the soldiers that for another half-hour the fight goes on. 

It is half-past eleven. For five hours the battle has raged. All night 
long the Union men were on the march. They have had no breakfast ; 
they are hungry, thirsty, faint, weary. Notwithstanding all this, once more 
they charge the advancing Confederates and drive them, but cannot hold 
the field. There is but one thing to do — retreat. 

One-third of those engaged have been killed, or are wounded. The 
battle is lost, but they have struck a blow whicli, in its moral effect, will 
make it a victory. Out of it will come a taking of sides by the people 
of Missouri — thousands of men wavering before the battle, after it wall 
decide to stand by the Union. 

The troops which marched from Springfield under General Lyon 
numbered not quite four thousand ; of these more than fourteen hun- 
dred were killed, wounded, and missing. The Confederate loss was pro- 
portionally great, and the blow so damaging that McCulloch and Price 
made no attempt to follow the retreating troops, which made their way to 
Rolla, a distance of one hundred and twenty -five miles. 

Leaving now the West, let us look at events on the Atlantic coast. 

Very soon after the first battle of Bull Run, when the Confederates 
saw — as did the people of the North — that the war was to be a trial of 
strength and endurance, they began to build forts along the coast. 

A gang of slaves was building Fort Hatteras, which stands on a point 



112 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

of land nearly surrounded by water, on the North Carolina coast. The 
white waves of the Atlantic break along the narrow strip of sandy beach, 
whichis washed on the other side by the waters of Pamlico Sound. The 
Confederates are building a bomb-proof large enough to afford shelter for 
live hundred men. The bank of sand is twenty-live feet in thickness ; it 
is turfed over, and there are ten heavy cannon mounted — two of them 
thirty-two-pounders. 

On Tuesday, August 27, 1861, the Confederate soldiers in the fort, 
looking seaward, saw a Union fleet coming down from the north — the 
frigate Minnesota, with the flags of Commodore Stringham and General 
Butler flying in the breeze ; the frigate Wabash, the sloop-of-war Pawnee, 
and three war-steamers — the Monticello, Harriet Lane, and Quaker City. 
There were also two steamers with nine hundred troops on board, com- 
manded by General Butler. 

The Cumherland, a sailing -frigate, came from Fortress Monroe with 
her white sails spread to the winds. The Wahash took her in tow, and 
the whole fleet steamed in towards the forts. 

It was nearly ten o'clock before the vessels were ready, and then the 
sides were all aflame sending a storm of shells into the forts. While the 
cannon were thundering, two hundred soldiers jumped into boats and 
rowed towards the shore. The white surf was breaking on the sands, but 
they dashed through it, and running up the beach formed in line. Colo- 
nel Weber, of New York, was in command. The Confederate cannon 
in the fort returned the Are of the ships, but the shots were badly 
aimed, and did no harm. For four hours the bombardment went on, and 
was so terrific that the Confederates pulled down their flags. Tlie Monti- 
cello steamed in, when suddenly the guns of Hatteras opened upon the 
ship, and solid shot crashed through her sides, while shells exploded around 
her. Fortunately, however, the captain got out of range and saved his 
ship from destruction. It was an act of perfidy. 

The Confederates finally abandoned Fort Clark, and two or three of 
the skirmishers, under Captain Weigel, ran in and hoisted the Stars and 
Stripes. Tlie Confederates in Hatteras, thinking Fort Chirk was full of 
Union soldiers, opened upon it with all their guns, wasting their ammuni- 
tion and hurting no one. 

At sunrise the next morning the Confederate steamer Winslow opened 
fire upon the troops on shore ; but during the night Colonel Weber had 
placed two howitzers and a rifled six-pounder in position behind an em- 
bankment, and the Winslow was obliged to keep at proper distance. It 
was a grand sight when the Susquehantia, Wahash, Jlinnesota, Harriet 



THE CLOSE OF 1861. 



113 



Lane, Pawnee, and Cumberland, one after anotliei-, opened their broad- 
sides upon Ilatteras. Commodore Barron was the Confederate commander 
in the fort. Once more the Confederate flag came down, but Commodore 
Stringham paid no heed to it ; lie was not to be deceived a second time, 
and the shells kept pouring in till a white flag went up. Then the sail- 
ors gave a hurrah and let the cannon cool. More than seven hundred 
prisoners were captured, with one thousand muskets and thirty-one heavy 
cannon. Nearly fifty of the Confederates had been killed or wounded, 
while not a Union soldier or sailor had been injured. 

ISo longer could English vessels enter and depart through Hatteras In- 
let ; and several which arrived during the next few days, unconscious of 
danger, were captured, to the great chagrin of the captains and crews. 

The loss of the forts and their occupation by the Union troops was an 
unexpected blow to the Confederates, for now a Union fleet could gain 
entrance to Pamlico and Albemarle sounds, and a Union army could secure 
a foothold in North Carolina. 

Taking events in their chronological order, and returning once more 
to Missouri, we find General Sterling Price issuing a proclamation glori- 
fying the battle of Wilson's Creek as a great victory for the Confederates, 
and calling upon the young men of Missouri to join his army, which soon 
numbered twenty thousand. lie advanced to Lexington, on the Missouri 
Piver, where there were three Missouri vol- 
unteer regiments and two of Home Guards, 
numbering twenty -eight hundred, under 
Colonel Mulligan, who threw up intrench- 
ments, upon which were mounted six cannon 
and two howitzers ; but the howitzers were 
useless for want of ammunition. He had 
only forty rounds for his men. On Sep- 
tember 11th the Confederate artillery opened 
fire, but Price decided to begin a siege in- 
stead of making an attack. Reinforcements 
swelled his force to twenty-five thousand, 
cending the river with supplies for Mulligan, 
no water, and their food was running short. The Confederate batteries kept 
up a constant fire ; the shells exploded among the horses of the Union 
cavalry, strewing the ground with their mangled bodies. The rebels 
charged upon the hospital, but were driven by the Montgomery Guards 
of Chicago, who in turn were driven. For three days Mulligan held 
out against Price's whole army, till his ammunition was exhausted, and the 




DEFENCE OF LEXINGTON. 

He captured a steamboat as- 
The Union troops could get 



114 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

tongues of liis men hung out of their mouths for want of water, bravely 
waiting for reinforcements which would never reach him. A shower came, 
and the soldiers spread their blankets to catch the falling drops, and then 
wrung them into their kettles. The Home Guards became disheartened 
at last, and Major Becker, without authority, raised the white flag, but 
Mulligan tore it down. The rebels opened fire once more, and the Home 
Guards retreated. Mulligan was twice wounded, nearly two hundred of 
his men killed or wounded, and he was forced to surrender. But this 
success of General Price could not swerve the great majority of the 
people of that State from their allegiance to the Stars and Stripes. 

We are to remember that the border line was fifteen hundred miles 
long; that the Government was obliged to send troops in every direction. 
It must help the loyal men of Missouri — must hold St. Louis, the great 
commercial centre west of the Mississippi, with its iron-founderies, its great 
fleet of steamboats. If the Confederates were to get possession of the 
State, or hold any part of it, the cause of the Union would suffer. Gen- 
eral Fremont was appointed commander of the Department ; his head- 
quarters were at St. Louis. He gathered a large number of troops for a 
movement towards the south-west, which would compel General Price to 
retire from the Missouri River. 

It was seen by the Government at Washington and by the Confeder- 
ate Government at Kichmond that the Mississippi, the Ohio, Tennessee, 
Cumberland, and Arkansas rivers would be great lines of communication 
as well as the railroads in the mighty struggle. Railroads could be torn 
up, but the rivers would be always running. Cannon might be planted 
upon the banks to stop the passing of steamboats, but the rivers would 
always be there. 

In West Virginia General Cox, with several regiments, was making 
his way up the Kanawha Valley, to give protection to the Union people. 
General Floyd, who, while Secretary of War, had violated his oath of 
oflice and done what he could to destroy the Union, was at Carnifex Ferry, 
on the Gauley River, a branch of the Kanawha. General Robert E. Lee, 
with a body of Confederates, was at Cheat Mountain, confronted by Gen- 
eral Rosecrans. We see Rosecrans leaving General Reynolds with a por- 
tion of his force to hold the ground against Lee, then marching with the 
rest from Clarksburg southward. He climbs mountains and moves through 
narrow defiles. At noon, September 9th, he is on the summit of Gauley 
Mountain. After a march of more than one hundred miles he comes 
suddenly upon Floyd near Summerville, who has strong intrenchments 
and twelve cannon. Rosecrans advances ; there is a skirmish, which almost 






t 
-,>^ 







BATTLE OF BALL'S BLUFF.— DEATH OF COLONEL BAKER. 



THE CLOSE OF 18G1. 



117 



becomes a battle, waged witli such vigor that Floyd steals away in the 
night, crossing tlie river on a log bridge, leaving all his tents, a large 
amount of supplies, and does not stop till he reaches SewalFs Mountain, 
thirty miles away. 

It was the 21st of October, a sweet, calm, and restful day, with the 
glory- of autumn on all the hills. I was in Washington. There were whis- 
pers in the air of something going on near Edwards Ferry, on the Potomac, 
above Washington. I hastened to General McClellan's headquarters to 
ascertain what it might be. The headquarters were in a large brick build- 
ing; there were aides and clerks in the numerous ajDartments, but they had 
no information to give to a correspondent. There was an air of mystery, 
a reticence which usually stimulates a correspondent to get at the bottom 
of things. While waiting to obtain an interview M'ith General McClellan, 
President Lincoln entered the room. I had seen him in his Springfield 
home, and lie gave me a cordial greeting. An aide passed into the room 
occupied by General McClellan, and announced the presence of the Presi- 
dent. I could hear the click of the telegi-aph within. Several minutes 
passed, and then the lieutenant invited the President to enter the inner 
room. While waiting, the President rested his head upon his hand, and 
seemed lost in thought ; there -were l^nes of trouble in his sunken cheeks. 
He soon came out, with his head bowed. His hands were clasped upon his 
heart ; he walked with a shuffling, tottering 
gait, reeling as if beneath a staggering blow. 
He did not fall, but passed down the street, 
carrying not only the burden of the nation, 
but a load of private grief, which, with the 
swiftness of the lightning's flash, had been 
hurled upon him. 

"We have met with a disaster up the 
river : fifteen hundred men have been lost 
and Colonel Baker is killed," said General 
Marcy, in response to my inquiry. It was at 
Ball's Bluff, where the Fifteenth and Twen- 
tieth Massachusetts, the Tammany Regiment 

of New York, and the California Regiment, also recruited in Xew York, 
commanded by Colonel Baker, had been sent across the Potonuic to make 
a demonstration towards Leesburg. The crossing was made on a canal- 
boat and two smaller boats. Colonel Baker was confronted by a force 
much larger than his own. He fell, and the troops were forced back 
to the river. There was a rush for the boats. Many plunged into the 
8^ 



?.^J^^ 






^" 



(■^ 







MAP OF BALL S BLUFF. 



118 DRUM-BEAT OP" THE NATION. 

swirling M-aters, to be swept away, a few to gain tlie otiier shore, some to 
be shot by the exultant Confederates, firing with deliberate and deadly 
aim upon the lielpless and unresisting victims. It was a needless move- 
ment which was ordered by General McClellan, and not well managed. 
The disaster aroused the indignation of the people and awakened criti- 
cism. Colonel Baker was President Lincoln's intimate friend ; lie had 
lived in Springfield, practised at the same bar, ridden in the same circuit, 
and they were animated by the same lofty ideas. Colonel Baker served in 
the Mexican war, made California his home in 1852, and had been elected 
Senator. On the floor of the Senate-chamber his voice had been eloquent 
for the Union. AV'hen the war began he raised his regiment in New 
York, equipped it largely at his own expense, naming it the " Califor- 
nia" Regiment. He had fallen in its first battle, and the telegraph had 
flashed the news of the terrible disaster to the President, 

On September Ith, General Ulysses S. Grant, who had been appointed 
to command the Department of South-eastern Missouri, reached Cairo, at 
the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. When the war began he 
was a clerk in a leather store at Galena, Illinois, He had been educated 
at West Point, and had seen service in Mexico. He drilled the volun- 
teers of the first company raised ii» the town, w^ent with them to Spring- 
field, Avhere Governor Yates asked him to assist in the Adjutant-general's 
oflice. He mustered in the soldiers as they arrived, went with the regi- 
ments ordered to St. Louis, and was there on that morning when General 
Lyon marched out and captured the camp of the secessionists. The Gov- 
ernor appointed him colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois llegiment. He 
kad been commissioned a brigadier-general, and had arrived in Cairo. 

The Confederates had invaded Kentucky, violating the neutrality 
which the State attempted to assume. Bishop Leonidas Polk had left 
the ministry of the Episcopal Church, and had been appointed a major- 
general by Jeiferson Davis. With several thousand men he took pos- 
session of Columbus, twenty miles below Cairo. The next morning after 
General Grant reached Cairo a Union scout came to him and said that the 
Confederates were getting ready to start from Columbus to seize Paducah, 
at the mouth of the Tennessee River. General Fi'emont, at St. Louis, 
General Grant's superior commander, was informed by Grant that he in- 
tended to send several regiments up the river that night and get ahead of 
the rebels. No instructions came to the contrary. 

At daylight on the morning of the 6th the people of Paducah were 
astonished to see a fleet of steamboats crowded with Union soldiers moored 
at the landing. Most of the people were secessionists, and were greatly 



THE CLOSE OF 1861. 



119 



disturbed ; they had expected to welcome General Jeff Thompson and an 
army of Confederates instead. The quick action of General Grant had 
upset all their expectations. The seizure of that town was an act of in- 
calculable benefit to the Union. 

We come to the first week in November. General Fremont wiis mov- 
ing witli an army towards soutli-western Missouri. Word reached (xcneral 
Grant that a large portion of the Confederates at Columbus were getting 




.^^^'^--t^ 









HOUSE IN WHICH GENERAL GRANT AVAS BORN. 



ready to leare on steamboats, go down the Mississippi and up White River, 
in Arkansas, and join the force under General Price, and thus enal)le him 
to overwhelm Fremont. General Grant was to execute a movement which 
would keep the rebels from carrying out the plan. lie directed General 
C. F. Smith, who was at Paducah, to march towards Columbus, but to halt 
before reaching that place. General Grant himself gathered up the troops 
at Cairo, about three thousand, and went down the river, accompanied by 



120 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



two gunboats. A portion of the rebels were on the high bhiffs of Colum- 
bus, where they had mounted heavy guns ; but there was also an encamp- 
ment on the low ground on the Missouri side, at Belmont. General Grant 
landed a few men on the Kentucky side to make a demonstration towards 
Columbus, as if he were intending to join General Smith, who was coming 
from Paducah. He had no intention of fighting a battle, but made the 
movement to keep the rebels from leaving. His soldiers were eager to 
do something, and he determined to land at Belmont and break up the 
Confederate camp at that point. 

The Confederates at Columbus were at their wits' ends as to his inten- 
tions, but at daylight he drew in the men on the Kentucky side, crossed 
the river, and landed the troops. He had two companies of cavalry, six 

cannon, and live regiments. It is eight o'clock 
when the troops advance. A mile and a half 
brings them to the rebel pickets, which are 
quickly driven in. The troops charge upon 
the camp and capture it. They swing their 
hats, then stack their arms and break ranks 
to seize the plunder. Some of the officers, in 
their enthusiasm, mount a stump and deliver 
speeches glorifying the Union. While this 
is going on, steamboats are ferrying several 
thousand Confederates across the river from 
Columbus. General Grant, finding it impos- 
sible to restore discipline, orders the camp to 
be set on fire. The Confederates who have 
fled to the bank of the river, finding that they are not pursued, and that 
reinforcements are landing, reform, advance along the bank, flanking the 
Union troops. " We are surrounded !" is the cry. Some of. the officers 
who have been making speeches suddenly become faint-hearted, and are 
all but ready to surrender. " We have cut our way in, and we can cut our 
way out," is the quiet remark of General Grant. The lines are formed, 
the skirmishers advance, the Confederates are again driv^en, and the troops 
reach the boats. General Grant rides alone out towards the enemy to 
reconnoitre. He reaches a corn-field quite near the Confederates, looks at 
them a moment, turns his horse, walks him a short distance before break- 
ing into a gallop. General Polk and one of his staff see him. " You may 
let your soldiers try their marksmanship on that Yankee, if you like," said 
General Polk, but no one fired. The two gunboats were sending their 
shells upon the Confederates. The troops were on board the steamers, 




BUS 



MAP OF BATTLE OP BELMONT. 



THE CLOSE OF 1861. 123 

and the boats ready to move away, when General Grant came riding in 
from the corn-field. All supposed him to be on board. The captain of 
one of the steamers sees him, runs out the i^Uink, and the noble horse 
which he is riding slides down the steep bank and walks the plank to the 
deck, with the rider in the saddle. General Grant goes upon tlie upper 
deck, and sits on a sofa a moment in the captain's room. lie rises, and 
an instant later a bullet passes where he has been sitting. 

It has been a sharp battle ; the Union loss is nearly five hundred, the 
Confederate, six hundred and forty-two. The newspapers of the North 
spoke of the battle as a defeat because General Grant went back to Cairo, 
but the object which he had in view was fully accomplished. Tlie enemy 
did not send any troops to join General Price, nor were any sent to 
capture General Oglesby, who M-as fifty miles south-west of Cairo. The 
battle, instead of being a defeat, must therefore be regarded as a victory 
for the Union. 

On this same day another engagement was taking place at Port Royal, 
on the coast of South Carolina, which in its results was of great value. 
On the morning of October 29th a fleet of gunboats, with the frigate 
Wcibash, all under the command of Admiral Dupont, together with a 
great number of steamers carrying an army of twelve tliousand men, com- 
manded by General T. W. Sherman, sailed out from Fortress Monroe. 
Xone of the captains knew whither they were bound, but each had a let- 
ter which was to be opened after sailing. No one in the fleet, except Ad- 
miral Dupont and General Sherman, was supposed to know the destina- 
tion of the expedition ; but there were so many traitors in Washington 
that on the next morning Mr. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary of "War 
in Richmond, telegraphed to Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, that it 
was bound for Port Royal. 

Port Royal is a deep and capacious harbor. The Government saw that 
the navy must have a harbor where the vessels blockading Charleston, 
Savannah, and all the other ports, could obtain coal and make repairs. 
The Confederates had erected two forts to defend it — Fort Walker, 
on Hilton Head, and Fort Beauregard, on the opposite northern shore. 
There were fifty -two guns in both works. General Drayton, with several 
hundred men, held Fort Walker, and Colonel Donavant Fort Beauregard. 
The Confederates had a small fleet of steamers, under Commodore Tatnall, 
but they were not of much account. 

It is half-past nine in the morning when the signal for attack flutters 
out from the mast-head of the Wahash. There are thirteen vessels in the 
fleet ; they are to sail in a circle, delivering their fire first on one fort 



12-i 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



and then on the other. Tlie Wabash leads, followed by the Susquehanna 
and the gunboats. The forts are the first to open fire, but with little ef- 
fect, for the vessels are moving and the guns are not well aimed. When 
half a mile away the sides of the vessels begin to flame, pouring solid shot 
and shells into Fort Walker. Round and round, in an ellipse, the vessels 
move in majestic order, the shells exploding in the forts, tossing up clouds 
of sand and dismounting the guns. Three times the fleet rounds the cir- 
cles, coming nearer Fort Walker, and sending such a storm into it that the 
garrison flees in consternation through the woods. The gunboats steam up 



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SOUTH CAROLINA COAST. 



the bay to Beaufort, the beautiful town which has been the pride of the 
wealthy planters and the citizens of Charleston, who have made it their 
sea-side home, and who have been foremost to bring about secession, little 
thinking how soon retribution would overtake them. They have thought 
that the way would be far away on Northern soil. Through the morning 
they have heard the thunder of the cannonade rolling up the river. Cou- 
riers have been stationed to bring the news of the expected discomfit- 
ure of the fleet. There is sudden silence, a few moments of suspense, 
and then a horseman rides into town with the news that the forts are 



THE CLOSE OF 18G1. 



127 



abandoned and the gunboats are on their 
Avay up the bay. Never before was there 
such consternation in Beaufort. There is 
running to and fro, wringing of hands, quick 
loading of wagons, shoutings to the shaves 
to go to tlie main - land ; but instantly the 
negroes disappear in the woods or hide in 
their cabins. The planters and their fam- 
ilies flee, leaving all behind. "When the gun- 
boats reach the town the negroes are hav- 
ing a saturnalia, making themselves at home 
in the stately mansions, drinking the costly 
wines, plundering and destroying property. 
The troops land and take possession of the 
town and restore order. 

The year closes with the border states — Kentucky, Missouri, East 
Tennessee, West Virginia, and Maryland — loyal to the Union, all the other 
Southern States joining the Confederacy. Midsummer opened with dis- 
aster to the Union at Bull Run, but autumn closes with victory for the 
old flag at Port Royal. 




IILTON HEADJ/;,I/A Q 



CAPTURE OP THE PORT ROYAL 
FORTS. 



128 DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



CHAPTER YIL 

THE BEGINNING OF 18 6 2. 

THE year 1SG2 opened with the Union armies, east and -^vest, doing 
nothing. The Army of the Potomac in and around Washington 
numbered one liundred and thirty thousand men. Throughout the au- 
tumn tliere had been grand reviews, attended by the President and Cabi- 
net, members of Congress, and great crowds of people. There had been 
much pomp and parade, and promise as to wliat the army would do ; but 
1861 closed with nothing accomplished, and no plan of a campaign on 
the part of General McClellan. New troops were constantly arriving, 
and by midwinter the army around Washington numbered nearly two 
hundred thousand. The inaction of General McClellan was producing 
discontent throughout the country. Everything he had asked for had 
been granted, but as nothing had been accomplished, the people were 
beginning to lose confidence in him. The " peace party," which was op- 
posed to the war, applauded his inaction, and the natural result was that 
those who were earnest for its prosecution began to think that his heart 
was not in it. He had issued an order that no damage should be done to 
the property of the Confederates ; slaves were not to be molested. When 
the Hutchinson family — three brothers and a sister, who had given many 
concerts throughout the country — visited the camps and sang songs to 
cheer the soldiers, they were ordered to leave because some of their songs 
were anti-slavery in sentiment. From the beginning of the war the Poto- 
mac Kiver had been closed to navigation by Confederate batteries along 
its southern bank. General McClellan made no attempt to reopen the 
river. Every night the correspondents sent the despatch, '* All quiet 
along the Potomac," until it became a byword. 

Seeing no indications of any movement by the Army of the Po- 
tomac, I left Washington for Kentucky, where General Buell was in 
command. 

Tennessee had joined the Confederacy ; Kentucky had not. The Gov- 
ernor of Kentucky was hoping that the State would take no part in the 



THE BEGINNING OF 1862. 



129 



war. Jefferson Davis planned otherwise. Several thousand Confederate 
troops, under Major-general Polk, had entered the State and planted can- 
non on the bluffs of Columbus. The Confederates hoped tliat the act 
would make the State decide to join the Confederacy, but instead it made 
the people more determined than ever to stand by the Union. 




THE CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE. 



Jefferson Davis appointed Albert Sydney eTohnston, born in Kentucky, 
to command the Confederate troops in the West. Before he arrived. Gen- 
eral Lovell laid out Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, on the Tennessee and 
Cumberland rivers. They were only twelve miles apart, close to the boun- 
dary of the two States. Five hundred slaves were set to work. 

General Johnston, on the afternoon of his arrival at Xashville, sent 
General Buckner to take possession of Bowling Green with five thousand 
men, and ordered General Zollicoffer, with several thousand men, to ad- 
vance from Knoxville, in Tennessee, through Cumberland Gap, and take 
position east of Bowling Green. Still farther east, General Humphrey 
Marshall, with three thousand troops, entered the State from Virginia and 
descended the valley of the Big Sandy Tviver, whicli runs north to the 
9 



130 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



Ohio. General Marshall thought that he could bring all eastern Kentucky 
under the Confederate Government. 

James A. Garfield ^vas at Colurabns, Ohio, a young colonel, who was 
born in a log-cal)in with a bark roof, a stone fireplace, and mud chimney. 




GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



His parents were poor; they had a frying-pan, a bake -pan, and some 
wooden plates, and a few other things in the kitchen— the one room in 
the cabin. He be^an life by driving mules to tow a canal -boat. He 



THE BEGINNING OF 183-2. 



i;ji 



clioppecl wood, lielpcd a farmer make potash, and by hard work made liis 
way througli college. He had taught school, and had been president of 
a college in Ohio. He was colonel of the Forty-second Ohio llegiment, 
at Columbus. He received a despatch from General Buell, who was at 
Louisville, to send his regiment to Prestonburg, on the Big Sandy Kiver, 
while he was to hasten to Louisville. 

" If you were in command of the sub-department of eastern Kentucky, 
what would you do ? Let me know to-morrow morning," said General 
Buell 

Through the night Colonel Garfield studied the map of Kentucky, 
the Big Sand}^ the valleys, the gaps in the mountain -ranges leading to 
Virginia and Tennessee. He went over the census tables to see where 
he could find forage and supplies for troops, laid his plan before General 
Buell, and was appointed to command a brigade. He was directed to 
"drive the enemy back or cut him off." He had his own and the Foi-- 
tieth Ohio and the remnant of the Fourteenth Kentuckv — a half-oro^an- 
ized regiment, poorly supplied with arms and clothing. He had no can- 
non. Ilain M'as falling, but the soldiers marched through deep mud up 
the valley of the Big Sandy. They had no tents ; at night they bivou- 
acked in the woods, kindling great fires. 

A steep and wooded hill, with rocky ledges at the summit and a creek 
winding through a narrow valley at its base, was the position selected by 
Marshall. With his four cannon he 
could sweep the valley. The vallej^ 
was so narrow, and the hills so steep 
and high, that the Union troops 
could not turn his flank; they must 
attack in front. 

On the evening of January 0, 
1SG2, the Union troops found them- 
selves face to face with the Confed- 
erates. A few shots were fired; but 
the cold gray winter night was set- 
ting in, and the soldiers of both armies lay down to sleep in the mud and 
rain, which changed to sleet, and beat pitilessly upon Union and Confed- 
erate alike. No fires were kindled. Garfield was in the valley, the Con- 
federates on the hill, with every advantage of position, outnumbering him 
two to. one, with four cannon, while he had not a single piece of artillery. 
In the morning the Union troops advanced. 

General Marshall was getting ready to charge, but suddenly changed 




MAP OF MIDDLE CREEK. 



L32 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Ill's mind, for down the valley lie beheld twelve hundred Union troops 
coming as fast as they could run. They had been marching all day, and 
had come twenty miles through the mud since daylight. They had heard 
the thunder of the Confederate cannon rolling down the valley, and had 
liastened to take part in the fight. 

General Marshall fears that lie is to be flanked, and gives the order to 
retreat. The frightened Confederate soldiers throw away their guns and 
flee through the woods. 

Night is closing in. Suddenly a bright light illumines the sky : Gen- 
eral Marshall has set Are to his stores and supplies, and is fleeing through 
the mountain-passes towards Virginia. There has been little fighting, but 
that little has brought about a great result ; it has secured all eastern Ken- 
tucky to the Union. It is the first break in the Confederate line of de- 
fence west of the Alleghanies. 

Let us go up now to the head -waters of that beautiful stream, the 
Cumberland River. From its mountain springs it gurgles over a rocky 
bed w^estward to the town of Waitsboro. Just below that town the water 
.is deep enough for small steamboats, which can come all the way from the 
Ohio, past Nashville, to that point. 

A little farther down, on the south side of the Cumberland, is a grist 
and saw mill, also springs which gush from the hill-side. The place is 
known as Mill Springs. 

General Zollicoffer was there with nine thousand troops. He had 
been a member of Congress from Tennessee, but had given heart and 
soul to the Confederate cause. He knew little about military affairs, and 
General George B. Crittenden was sent to take command. General Crit- 
tenden was a Kentuckian ; his brother was a general in the Union army, 
and his father, who had been a Senator in Congress, was giving the 
strength of his declining years to maintain tlie Union. 

Before General Crittenden arrived. General Zollicoffer, eager to advance, 
by using two steamboats and some flat-boats crossed the Cumberland and 
threw up intrenchments at Beech Grove, on the north bank of the river. 

There was a brigade of Union troops at Somerset, under General 
Schoepf, twenty miles from Beech Grove, and another brigade at Co- 
lumbia, thirty miles north-west, under General George II. Thomas, both 
moving towards Mill Springs. 

While the Union troops are making their toilsome march along the 
miry roads, let us see how things look at Beech Grove. General Critten- 
den finds nine thousand men, but so many are sick that onlj^ six thousand 
are fit for duty. They have little to eat. The country around is poor; 



THE BEGINNING OF 1862. 133 

tlie inirc is so deep that the wagons which bring provisions and supplies 
cannot move. Many of tlie soldiers are armed with shot-guns; they are 
destitute of overcoats; their shoes are wearing out. Why have they left 
their homes to become soldiers? Because they have been led to believe 
that they owe allegiance to the State in which tliey were born rather than 
to the nation, and because they have dreamed of winning glory on the 
field of battle. There is no glory in remaining in camp. General Zolli- 
coifer does not wish to wait for the Union troops to attack ; he woukl 
rather march out and attack them. General Crittenden opposes the j^lan ; 
but the colonels, the captains, the men — all are eager to advance. A 
council of officers decided in favor of the plan. General Thomas is onlv 
nine miles away. They will make a night march, attack him at dayli^dit, 
rout him, then move on to Somerset and rout the troops under Schoepf. 
By one vigorous stroke they will sweep the Union troops back to tlie 
Ohio River. 

The night is cold and drearj^, the rain falling; but the Confederate 
soldiers hail with joy the news that they are to move out and attack Gen- 
eral Thomas. They will eat breakfast in his camp upon rations suj)plied 
by the United States. 

The war has become more than a conflict between two sections of the 
country. In Kentucky it is a war between old neighbors and friends — 
a civil war. Union soldiers from Tennessee are to fire into the faces of 
Confederate Tennessee soldiers. Though Kentucky has not joined the 
Confederacy, hot-blooded young men have left their homes to enlist in 
the Confederate service. 

General Thomas, commanding the Union troops, M\as born in Virginia. 
He was in the battle of Buena Vista, in Mexico. He is clear-headed 
and self-possessed. His soldiers love him, for he is kind-hearted, brave, 
and looks after their comfort and welfare. He always has his eyes open. 
To guard against surprise, he stations his cavalry pickets out on all the 
roads leading to his camp, and behind them infantry pickets. 

He reached Logan's Cross-roads on the night of January 17th. The 
troops pitched their tents on Mr. Logan's farm, and the cavalry pickets 
went two miles out on all the roads, with infantry behind them. 

We see the Confederate cavali-y mounting their horses at midnight at 
Beech Grove. Zollicoffer's brigade moves first — two cavalry battalions, 
one Mississippi and three Tennessee regiments, and Kutledge's battery, 
four guns. General Carroll follows with two Tennessee regiments, two 
cannon of McCluny's battery, then the Sixteenth Alabama and two cav- 
alry battalions. 



184 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

The dim liglit of the winter morning is dawning (January 19th) wlien 
the foremost cavabyman conies upon the Union pickets. 

" Halt ! Who goes there f 

The answer is a Confederate jjistol-shot. 

A Union cavah-yman goes down the road as fast. as he can ride to 
Colonel Hanson's tent. In an instant the drum is beating the long-roll. 

General Thomas has four thousand men : the Tenth Indiana, Colonel 
Kise, and Fourth Kentucky, Colonel Frye, from Colonel Hanson's bri- 
gade ; the First and Second Tennessee and Twelfth Kentucky, from Gen- 
eral Carter's brigade ; the Ninth Ohio and Second Hinnesota, from Colo- 
nel HcCook's brigade. The three batteries are commanded b}^ Captains 
Kenny, Randall, and Wetmore. He has only one battalion of cavalry. 
Besides these he has a battalion of engineers from Hichigan and one com- 
pany of the Thirty-eighth Ohio Regiment, wdio are ordered to guard the 
camp. Out from their tents leap the soldiers of the Tenth Indiana and 
Fourth Kentucky, and form in line across the road. 

Ten minutes, and both regiments are ready and waiting the word of 
connnand. The Tenth Indiana is on the west side of the road in the 
woods, the Fourth Kentucky on the cast side, both facing south. The men 
in blue, as they stand there with their muskets loaded and capped, see the 
skirmishers falling back, and in the dim and misty light the flashes of the 
mnskets. And now they catch a glimpse of an advancing line of Confeder- 
ates, who halt, raise their guns, and fire. It is a regiment from Hississippi. 
Behind the Hississippians come the Nineteenth Tennessee upon a run 
through a field. The battle furiously begins ; volley after volley rolls from 
the opposing lines. The Fourth Kentucky is in rear of the Tenth Indiana. 

" Where shall I go into position ?" Colonel Frye asks. 

" Go out and take position in those woods," Colonel Hanson replies. 

The Fourth Kentucky passes through a field, enters a piece of woods, 
and comes out into Hr. Logan's field. The men leap over a rail -fence 
and form once more. Suddenly from the other side of the field there 
comes a volley. 

" Back to the other side of the fence !" Colonel Frye gives the order. 

"Ha! ha! they arc retreating!" the Confederates shout; they think that 
the Union troops arc panic-stricken. Across the fields they rush, but sud- 
denly five hundred mnskets flame in their faces, and Kenny's Battery sends 
shell after shell through the advancing line, which comes to a stand-still. 

The air is misty and the smoke so thick that the men in blue and the 
men in gray can see only the quick flashes of one another's guns. 

Colonel HcCook comes M-ith his briti;ade. The Second Hinnesota 



THE BEGINNING OF 1832. 135 

swings up beliiiid tlie Fourtli Kentucky, and the Xinth Ohio takes the 
place of tlie Tenth Indiana. The Mississippians are in front of the Min- 
nesota regiment. Colonel Frye rides down by the rail-fence. lie sees in 
tlie dim light an officer on a white horse, wearing a rubber blanket conceal- 
ing his uniform. Colonel Frye does not know him, but rides up so near 
that they might shake hands. 

" We must not shoot our own men," says the officer. 

" Of course not." 

" Those are our men." 

The officer points, but Colonel Frye cannot see any soldiers in that 
direction, and rides a few steps away. He turns his horse to look once 
more. Suddenly an officer by the side of the man on the white horse fires 
a pistol at Colonel Frye, missing him, but wounding his horse. 

What ! A Confederate ! The man on the white horse not a Union 
officer! Colonel Frye raises his pistol, fires, and General Zollicoffer falls 
from his saddle dead. How strange Zollicoffer's mistake ! for Colonel Frye 
has no cloak or blanket concealing his uniform. 

For a half hour the struggle goes on east of the road. Stepping over, 
now, west of the road we see the l^intli Ohio fixing bayonets. They have 
fired away nearly all their ammunition, and they will finish the battle by 
a charge. The line closes — shoulder touching shoulder. They break into 
a run. The Confederate Tennesseeans give way. A panic seizes the 
whole Confederate line ; officers and soldiers alike think only of saving 
themselves. 

What a pitiful scene it was! More than four hundred Confederates 
killed and wounded, the living throwing away their guns and everything 
that hindered them. Back to Beech Grove, across the Cumberland River, 
they fled, most of them crossing on the steamboats, but some attempting 
to swim were swept away by the swirling ice-cold stream. 

They had nothing to eat ; all had been lost. Hungry, weary, faint, 
footsore, freezing, the regiments melted wholly away. It was a terrible 
blow; Kentucky was hopelessly lost to the Confederacy. The Union men 
in eastern Tennessee, hearing the news, took heart. 

Never, never would they yield, but stand forever for the flag of the 
Union ! 

On January 9th I reached Cairo, with credentials from the Secretary of 
War to the general in command. I entered the headquarters — a mean 
room in an old building, up a flight of rickety stairs. "Come in," was 
the response to my knock. Entering, I found a gentleman with a close- 
cut beard, wearing a blue blouse, without sign of any rank, sitting on an 



13G 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



empty nail-cask at a pine table, smoking a pipe, with a pile of papers be- 
fore him. lie had the appearance of being a clerk. 

" Is General Grant in ?" I asked. 

" Yes, sir," was the reply. 

"Will yon be kind enongh to give him this letter?" 

Instead of carrying it to an adjoining room, the gentleman opened it, 
ran his eye over the page, greeted me cordially, and said, " I am happy to 
see yon. Please take a nail-cask. Colonel Webster will give you a pass." 
It was my first interview with General Grant. 

In the ship-yards at Cincinnati and St. Louis there had been a clatter- 
ing of axes: carpenters hewing oaken timbers, building vessels — broad, 
fiat-bottomed, with sloping sides, flat roofs — to be clad with iron plates. 
Never before had floated on the waters of the Ohio and Mississippi such 
strange craft. 




A GUNBOAT OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



"They look like mud- turtles," said the soldiers when the gunboats 
Essex, Carondelet, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Benton steamed up to the 
levee at Cairo. 

But these queer-looking gunboats, with cannon peeping from their 
port-holes, were destined to play an iipportant part in the war. Let us 
keep in mind that the war was a revolt against free laboi'. The working- 
men of the great States of the West, the iron-workers and the ship-car- 
penters, had wielded hammers and axes, and here were the vessels which 
they had constructed, with which they proposed to open once more to 
commerce the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Mississippi rivers. 

The Cumberland and Tennessee run side by side northward from the 



THE BEGINNING OF 1862. 137 

northern boundary of the State of Tennessee. They are only twelve miles 
apart. Just south of the State line stood Fort Henry, on the east bank 
of the Tennessee, while Fort Donelson stood on the west bank of the 
Cumberland. There was no bluff at Fort Henry, and the mud fortifica- 
tion thrown up by slaves under the direction of Major Gilmer was on a 
low bank, screened by a thicket of willows. There were sixteen cannon 
— one of which threw a ball ten inches in diameter, one sixty-pounder, 
twelve thirty-two-pounders, and two twelve-pounders. They were so ar- 
ranged that they could all be pointed down the river to knock the gun- 
boats to pieces, or inland to throw shells upon troops advancing to attack 
it from the rear. Outside of the fort were rille-pits and breastworks. The 
tall trees were cut down to form an abatis. 

Inside the intrenchments were nearly four thousand men, under 
General Tilghman. At Columbus, on the Mississippi, were twenty-two 
thousand Confederates, under General Leonidas Polk. At Fort Donelson 
was General Buckner, with nearly twenty thousand troops. At Bowling 
Green, in Kentucky, on the south bank of the Big Barren River, in a very 
strong position, was General Johnston, with twelve thousand troops. 

Opposite the Confederates, at Bowling Green, in central Kentucky, 
was a Union army, under General Buell. At Cairo was another army, 
under General Grant. General Garfield, by his victory in eastern Ken- 
tucky, and General Thomas, by the victory at Mill Springs, had broken 
the Confederate lines of defence. Where, now, M-ould it be easiest for the 
Union troops to break through ? 

On January 28th Commodore A. II. Foote, commanding the gunboats 
at Cairo, sent this despatch to General Halleck at St. Louis : " General 
Grant and myself are of the opinion that Fort Henry can be carried with 
four gunboats and the troops.*' 

"From Fort Henry," wrote General Grant, "it will be easy to operate 
either on the Cumberland, twelve miles distant, on Memphis, or Columbus." 

If Fort Henry were taken, it would be easy to land an army on the 
east bank, march across and attack Fort Donelson in the rear ; or the 
army could land on the west bank and attack Columbus in the rear. 

" I strike where the enemy least expects me, and I move to turn his 
positions," were the military rules adopted by Xapoleon. 

If Fort Henry could be taken, it would turn the Confederate position. 

There was so much to be done that a month passed before the gun- 
boats were ready. But up the Ohio, on February 2d, they moved, fol- 
lowed by a fleet of steamboats, with ten regiments of soldiers crowding 
the cabins and the decks. The gunboats turned up the Tennessee. The 



138 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



melting snow on the far-off mountains was sending down a flood, wliicli 
was o.verflowing all the lowlands. At daylight the next morning the 
steamboats ran their prows against tlie bank and tied them up to the 
trees. The troops went on shore. Scouts called at a farm-house. 
" You never will take Fort Henry," said a woman. 




ADMIRAL FOOTE. 



" Oh yes, we shall ; the gunboats will knock it to pieces." 

" They will be blown sky-high before they get near the fort." 

" How so ?" 

"The river is full of torpedoes." 

The scouts reported the information to Admiral Foote. and the sailors, 
jumping into the boats, went out with grappling-irons, and in a short time 
lished up six torpedoes. 



THE BEGINNING OF 1862. 



139 



General Grant and Commodore Foote agreed that tlie gunboats should 
commence tlie attack at twelve o'clock. 

" I shall take the fort in about an hour," said the commodore. " I 
shall commence firing when I reach the liead of Panther Island, and it 
will take me about an hour to reach 
the fort, for I shall steam up slowly. 
1 am afraid, general, tliat the roads 
are so bad the troops will not get 
around in season to capture the en- 
emy. I shall take the fort before 
YOU get into position." 

Tlie boats reach the head of the 
island, and the fort is in full view. 
It is thirty-four minutes past twelve 
o'clock. There is a flash and a 
creamy cloud of smoke at the bow 
of the Cincinnati. An eight-inch 
shell screams through the air. The 
gunners watch its course ; their 
])ractised eyes follow its almost 
viewless flight. The fort accepts 
the challenge, and instantly twelve 
guns open upon the advancing 
l)oats. The shot and shell plough 
furrows in the stream, and throw 
columns of water high in air. 

The gunboats move on slowly 
and steadily ; their fire is regular 
and deliberate. Every shot goes 
into the fort. The Confederate 
gunners are blinded and smothered 
l)y clouds of sand ; the gun-carriages 
are crushed, splintered, and over- 
turned ; men are cut to pieces. 
Something unseen tears them like a 
thunder-l)olt. The fort is full of 

explosives. The heavy rifled gun bursts, crushing and killing those who 
serve it ; the flag-staff is splintered and torn as by lightning. 

Yet the fort replies. The gunners have the range of the boats, and 
nearly every shot strikes tlie iron plating. They are like the strokes of 




FORT HENRY. 



140 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

sledge-lmimiiers, indenting the sheets, starting the fastenings, breaking the 
tongh bolts. The Cincinnati receives thirty-one sliots, the Essex lifteen, 
the 8t. Louis seven, and the Carondelet six. 

Though struck so often, they move on. Tlie distance lessens. An- 
other gun is knocked from its carriage in tlie fort; another — another. 
Tliere are signs that the contest is about over. But a shot strikes tlie 
Essex between the iron plates ; it tears through the oaken timbers and 
into one of the steam-boilers. There is a great puff of steam ; it pours 
from the port-holes, and the boat is enveloped in a cloud. She drops out 
of the line of battle. Her engines stop, and she floats with the stream. 
Twenty-eight of her crew are scalded, among them lier brave commander. 
Captain Porter. 

The Confederates take courage. They siDring to their guns, and fire 
rapidly but wildly, hoping and expecting to disable the rest of the fleet. 
But Commodore Foote does not falter ; he keeps straight on as if nothing 
had happened. A shell from the Cincinnati dismounts a gun, killing or 
wounding every gunner. The boats are so near that every shot is sure to 
do its work. The fire of the boats -increases, while the fire of the fort 
diminishes. Coolness, determination, energy, perseverance, and power win 
the day. The Confederate flag comes down, and a white flag goes up. 
Cheers ring through the fleet. A boat puts out from the St. Lords. An 
offlcer jumps ashore, climbs the torn embankment, stands upon the para- 
pet, and raises the Stars and Stripes. 

Thus, in an hour and twelve minutes, the fort which the Confederates 
confidently expected would prevent the gunboats from ascending the river 
was forced to surrender, and there was unobstructed w%ater communication 
to the very heart of the Confederacy. The line of defence was again 
broken. 

There was but little loss of life in this engagement — twenty to thirty 
killed and wounded on each side. 

Up the river steamed the gunboats, capturing the nearly completed 
Confederate gunboat Eastport. During the preceding months the Con- 
federates have partly altered an old river steamboat into a gunboat. They 
had built it up with thick timber, and partly plated it with iron ; but sud- 
denly they cut the steam-pipes, chopped holes in the bottom, and fled to 
the woods. On the Union side during these months the men of the iron- 
mills, the carpenters of St. Louis and Cincinnati, had constructed the gun- 
boats, and there they were, making their way up the Tennessee to the 
border of Alabama. 

Although Governor Harris, of Tennessee, and his fellow-confederates 




iiiiiiiiiimiiiliiiiiiiiij 



THE BEGINNING OF 1862. 148 

have voted tlie State out of the Union ; althougli the groat mass of the 
people in western Tennessee are for the Confederacy, there are those wlio 
swing their hats and give a cheer, witli the tears rolling down their cheeks, 
when they behold once more the dear old flag floating from the flag-staffs 
of the gunboats. 

AVitli consternation General Albert Sidney Johnston, at Bowling Green, 
read the message that came to him announcing the surrender of Fort 
Henry. Through the months liis troops had been digging trenches, throw- 
ing up breastworks in front of the Union army under General Buell, but 
now it was lost labor. He must make a quick retreat, or General Grant 
with a great army would be in his rear. Johnston had twelve thousand 
men ; Buell a much larger force, and was getting ready to advance. 

There was a sudden commotion, a packing up of baggage, loading it 
into the cars and in wagons — barrels of flour, beef, pork, tents, cannon, am- 
munition. They set fire to buildings containing thousands of bushels of 
corn. In the engine-house of the railroad were six engines laid up for re- 
pairs. They piled wood around them and set it on fire and hastened away. 
The work of destruction of material forces had begun in the Confederacy. 

On the morning of February 14th, General MitcheU's division of Union 
troops marched into Bowling Green. Mitchell looked at the locomotives. 

" It will not take long to repair them," he said. 

It was the difference between the North and the South. A few days 
later and the encrines were runninoj. Labor was winnino; its victories. 

It is twelve miles from Fort Henry to Fort Donelson. There are two 
roads, which wind through the forest, with here and there a farm-house. 
The soil is not very fertile, and the farmers do not raise much corn ; but 
the oak-trees in the fall of the year are full of acorns, and the farmers keep 
large herds of pigs, which roam the woods, feeding upon the nuts. 

Out from Fort Ilemy marched the troops under General Grant — 
McClernand's and Smith's divisions — leaving General Lew. Wallace's divis- 
ion to hold that fort. The baggage -wagons had not arrived from Cairo, 
and the soldiers carried three days' rations of bread and meat in their hav- 
ersacks. They bivouacked at night beside a brook, and kindled great fires, 
shooting the pigs and roasting them by the glowing coals. They sang 
songs, shouted, danced, told stories till the drums beat the tattoo ; then 
they scraped the dead leaves into heaps for a bed, wrapped themselves in 
their blankets, and lay down to sleep. 

While the Union army is working its way towards the Cumberland 
River, let us go in advance and look at Fort Donelson. 

We see the town of Dover located where the river runs north-west. 



144 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



and then bends nortli. The ground rises fifty feet above the water ; the 
stores and dwellings are on the hill-side. 

Low down we see a bank of fresh earth, and higher up a second line 
of works, and seventeen cannon peeping from the embrasures — most of 
them thirty-two pounders— all pointing down the river. Those in the up- 
per work are so high that they will pour a plunging fire upon the gun- 
boats when they steam up the river, while Admiral Foote will find that if 
he approaches near the fort he will not be able to elevate the muzzles of 
his cannon sufficiently high to do any danuige. 




FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON. 



From the south-west corner of the fort a line of breastworks runs 
south along the crest of a ridge. Following it a mile, we come to a deep 
ravine, with a creek flowing through it ; crossing the creek, we follow the 
line, now bending east another mile to Lick Creek, which flows north to 
the river, and which is too deep to be forded. 

The fortifications consist of three distinct parts — the water batteries 
and fort, the line of breastworks, and beyond them a line of rifle-pits and 
abatis. 

The rifle-pits are built of logs. There is a space between the upper 
log and the one beneath it, behind which the Confederate riflemen can lie 
and pick off the Union troops. The country beyond is broken into ridges 
and hills covered with forests. 

At midnight on the day of tlie loss of Fort Henry the Confederate 
troops from that fort, under Colonel Ileiman, reach Fort Donelson. Troops 
arrive from Nashville, sent by General Johnston. General Gideon J. Pil- 
low arrives on the 9th. lie had served in the Mexican War, It was said 



THE BEGINNING OF 1862. 145 

that in that war he ignorantly constructed a fortification with tlie ditch 
on tlie wrong side of the embankment ; hut lie had an exalted opinion of 
his abilities, was jealous of his superior officers, besides being ever ready 
to find fault with their plans. lie once attempted to supersede General 
Scott. Another Confederate general arrived on the 11th, Simon B. Buck- 
uer, who several years before the outbreak of the war had had a falling 
out with Pillow, and their personal relations were not cordial. General 
Johnston was very unfortunate in his selection of officers for the defence 
of this important point. The major-general in command was John B. 
Floyd, the man who, as Secretary of War under President Buchanan, had 
done what he could to furnish the Southern States with arms, who had 
been indicted by the Grand Jury at Washington as a thief for the em- 
bezzlement of the funds of the United States — this man, with no military 
experience, by virtue of the date of his commission was senior officer. It 
is quite certain that General Buckner, the junior general officer, was much 
better fitted to command. General Floyd arrived on the 13th and assumed 
command, which was not relished by Pillow. 

There were twenty-eight regiments of Confederate infantry, besides 
two battalions, one regiment of cavalry, six batteries of light artillery, and 
seventeen heavy guns. General Buckner, with six regiments and two bat- 
teries, was assigned to hold the ground north-west of the town ; the rest of 
the army — six brigades — the remainder of the line, under General Pillow. 
General Bushrod R. Johnston was selected by General Floyd as chief of 
staff, and a great deal of the energy of the defence of Donelson was due to 
him and General Buckner rather than to Floyd or Pillow. The first brigade 
in line was Ileiman's, holding the right ; then Davidson's, Drake's, "Whar- 
ton's, McCausland's, and Baldwin's, with twenty-four cannon. During the 
winter four hundred log-cabins had been built, so that the Confederates 
were much better sheltered than the Union troops, M'ho had no tents, but 
who must bivouac on the frozen ground. 

The Union army left Fort Henry on the 11th of February. On the 12tli 
the videttes come in sight of the Confederate pickets outside the breast- 
works. General McClernand's division swings south towards Lick Creek, 
while General Smith takes position north-west of the fort. General Grant 
makes his headquarters at the house of Mrs. Crisp, a log-cabin with a chim- 
ney outside. He has twenty-five regiments and seven batteries: in all, 
forty -two guns. McClernand's division has three brigades — Oglesby's, 
W. H. L. Wallace's, and Morrison's — all the troops from Illinois, with the 
exception of a company of United States cavalry. General Smith's di- 
vision consists of McArthur's, Lauman's, Cook's, and Morgan L. Smith's 
10 



146 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

brigades. One of the regiments in Lautnan's brigade is commanded by 
Colonel Berge. The men are sharp-shooters ; their rifles have telescopes 
attached. They have fired at targets till they have become expert in aim. 

The morning of the 13th dawns. The sharp-shooters have filled their 
cartridge-boxes, and are in advance of the rest of the army, working their 
way towards the Confederate lines. They crouch behind logs or lie upon 
the ground, screened from sight by the gnarled roots of the trees. Before 
the sun is up there is a rattling fire between the sharp-shooters and the 
Confederate pickets. A little later the Confederate cannon throw shells 
at random towards the Union lines. Some of the Union batteries make 
their way throngh the thick woods, and come into position and aim at the 
puffs of smoke which rise above the trees. 

General Grant sees that he has not troops enough to cover the entire 
line, and sends a courier to Fort Henry for General Lew. Wallace's di- 
vision. Other regiments are on the way, coming up the river, which are 
turned over to Wallace upon his arrival, who organizes them into bri- 
gades, commanded by Colonel Cruft and Colonel Thayer. He comes into 
position between Smith and McCiernand, directly west of Fort Donelson, 
forming the centre of the army. The arrival of tliese trooj)s enables 
McCiernand to move farther east towards the river, and close the road 
which leads south from Dover, thus cutting oft' all chance of escajje on 
the part of the Confederates in that direction. 

While this is going on, the gunboat Carondelet comes up the river and 
opens fire upon the batteries with her long-range guns. 

One cannot understand just what General Floyd intended to do. Prob- 
ably he had no definite plan. Had he been a commander of ability he 
would have fallen suddenly, with an overwhelming force, upon McCier- 
nand before the arrival of General Wallace, when there was a wide gap 
between the right and left wings of Grant's army, but he waited instead 
till ten additional Union regiments had arrived. He waited to be attacked 
instead of attacking, and lost his best opportunity of winning a victory. 

The morning sun was bright and clear, the air balmy as April, but 
before night the wind changed, clouds drifted across the sky, the wind in- 
creased to a gale, and a furious snow-storm swept over the contending ar- 
mies. Many of the Union soldiers had thrown off their overcoats and left 
them behind in the march, and now paid the penalty by shivering through 
the night. 

General Grant does not wish to bring on an engagement. He has 
closed all the roads leading from Fort Donelson. Tlie Confederates can 
receive no supplies except by the river. He hopes, with the aid of tlie 



X 2 




THE BEGIKNIKG OF 1862. 149 

gunboats under Commodore Foote, to capture the entire force without 
much lighting. The fleet arrives on the morning of the 14th. While 
Commodore Foote is getting ready to open fire upon the fort, Gen- 
eral McClernand is taking matters into his own liands. General Grant 
has directed him to do nothing that will bring on an engagement, but 
McClernand is a lawyer, a nervous, restless, brave, impulsive man, and was 
a member of Congress before the war. He has not yet comprehended that 
strict obedience to the command of his superior officer, except in extreme 
cases, is one of the most important rules. A Confederate battery on a hill 
in front of Morrison's brigade is sending its shells upon his line. There 
are three Confederate batteries, which have a wide sweep, and are very 
annoying to McClernand. His own batteries reply. When the Confed- 
erates stop firing, McClernand, thinking that they are silenced, resolves to 
order Morrison to advance and capture them. He does not take into ac- 
count the five regiments of infantry under Heiman crouching behind the 
breastworks near by. 

There are three regiments in Morrison's Union brigade. They move 
through the woods and come to the foot of the slope in front of the 
Confederate works. Instantly the Confederate cannon open upon them. 
The Forty-ninth Illinois, Morrison's own regiment, comes into a clearing, 
and moves more rapidly than the other regiments. The men begin to 
fall, but they open fire upon the cannoneers. Captain Maney, command- 
ing one of the Confederate batteries, is wounded ; also his first and second 
lieutenants. The Union troops thinking that with a rush the battery will 
be theirs, give a cheer and run up the hill. Suddenly the breastworks 
flame. The Confederates, resting their muskets on the logs in front of 
them, fire a volley. Men firing down hill, especially in the excitement of 
battle, almost always aim too high. Men fall from the Union ranks, but 
for fifteen minutes they stand on the slope of the hill loading and firing — 
not only the Forty-ninth Illinois, but the Seventeenth and Forty-eighth. 
They fall back at last, but at the foot of the hill halt, reform their lines, 
advance once more, again fall back, and a third time go up almost to the 
breastworks to retreat again, leaving many of their number upon the dead 
leaves, close up to the works. It is a horrible sight which they behold 
when they see the leaves set on fire by the burning wadding of the Con- 
federate cannon, and the flames sweeping over the wounded, whom they 
cannot help. More than three hundred men — just how many we do not 
know — have fallen in this assault made against the orders of General Grant. 

!N"ot till three o'clock in the afternoon were the gunboats ready to 
attack. During the two days of waiting, the Carondelet has thrown one 



150 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



hundred and thirty-nine shot into the fort, dismounting three of the guns. 
All the cannon in the fort have replied, and sent hundreds of solid shot 
in return, but only two have done any damage. One has gone through 
the side of the boat, and killed or wounded a dozen men. Several men 
have been killed in the fort. 

The plan of Commodore Foote is to attack the batteries on the bank 
of the river, silence them, then run past the town, and cut off all commu- 
nication between the army and Xasli- 
ville, which will soon compel Floyd 
to surrender. The fleet comes into 
position. The boats are to steam 
slowly and fire deliberately. It prob- 
ably would have been better to have 
gone ahead with the utmost speed 
and run past, without attempting to 
silence the batteries. If attempted, 
it might possibly have been accom- 
plished. 

When within one mile of the fort 
the St. Louis opens fii"e, quickly fol- 
lowed by the Pittsburg, Louisville, 
and Carondelet. The Conestoga and 
Taylor, wooden vessels, are in rear, 
firing at long range. The battle 
opens earnestly. There is the deaf- 
ening roar of the guns, the crash of 
solid shot, the bursting of shells, whirring of the ragged pieces, ripping up 
of the iron plating, and loosening of bolts. The boats move steadily on. 
The mile lessens to half a mile ; the smoke-stacks are riddled, and the fire 
under the boilers, for want of proper draught, begins to grow dull, reduc- 
ing the speed. But on they move till within one-quarter of a mile, when 
a shot strikes the pilot-house of the Carondelet, killing the pilot. A solids 
shot cuts the rudder-chains of the Carondelet, and she became unmanage-. 
able. The thirty-two-pound balls go through the oaken sides of the boats 
as you can throw pease through wet paper. A shot splintered the helm^ 
of the Pittsburg, and that boat also became unmanageable. A third 
shot crashed through the pilot-house of the St. Louis, killing the pilot 
instantly. Commodore Foote was standing by his side, and was sprinkled 
with the blood of the brave man. The shot broke the wheel and knocked 
down a timber, which wounded the commodore in the foot. He sprang 




FT.DONELSON, 
FEB.14TH,1862. 



THE BEGINNING OF 1862. 



151 



Contederato Tents A 
Mg Huts 
.'nion Fo: 




MAP OF FORT DONELSON, AS INVESTED BY GENERAL GRANT ; BASED ON THE OFFICIAL 
MAP OF GENERAL J. B. McPHERSON. 



to the deck, limped to another steering apparatus, and endeavored with 
his own hands to keep the vessel's head to the stream ; but the other 
apparatus also had been shot awaj. Sixty-one shots had struck the St. 
Louis ; some had passed through from stem to stern. The LoulsviUe 
had received thirty -five; twenty-six had crashed into and through the 
Carondelet. One of her guns had burst, killing and wounding six of the 
crew. The Pittsburg had been struck twenty- one times. All but the 



152 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Louisville, of the iron-plated boats, were unmanageable. At the very last 
moment — when the difficulties had been almost overcome — the commo- 
dore was obliged to hoist the signal for retiring. Ten minutes more, five 
hundred feet farther, and the Confederate trenches would have been swept 
from right to left their entire length. When the boats began to drift 
down the stream the Confederates were running from their guns, to escape 
the fearful storm of grape and canister which they thought would soon 
sweep over them. Fifty-four were killed and wounded on the gunboats 
in this attack. 

General Floyd called a council of war, which met that Friday evening. 

" I am satisfied," he said, " that Grant will bring up all his reinforce- 
ments, and will be able to prevent our getting supplies. I propose to 
attack him at daylight to-morrow morning. One-half of the army under 
General Pillow M'ill attack McClernand's division, while General Buckner 
with the other wing will attack General Smith." 

General Floyd hoped by this movement to throw the Union troops 
into confusion. At any rate, by driving McClernand, the Confederate 
army would be able to get away before Grant's reinforcements arrived. 
All preparations were made. The soldiers received extra rations, their 
cartridge-boxes were filled, and the regiments placed in position. All 
niijht lonoj the marchinoj and countermarchino^ went on. 

Saturday morning, out from the trenches moves Baldwin's brigade, Pil- 
low's division in advance, and Drake's and Simonton's brigades following. 
The soldiers pick their way slowly through the woods. The skirmishers 
deploy, and come sooner than they expected upon the Union pickets 
in front of General Oglesby's brigade. The drummers of that brigade 
were beating the reveille when there came the sharp crack of rifles. The 
Union soldiers sprang to their feet. 

General Pillow's troops marched south-west on the Ferry Road, as it 
was called, half a mile, then turned to the north-west. The Twenty-sixth 
Mississippi began the attack ; but instead of catching Oglesby's men asleep, 
they found them wide awake and in line. 

" The enemy is in front of me in force," was the message sent by Colo- 
nel Baldwin to Pillow, who moved forward the Eighth Kentucky and 
Twentieth Mississippi, making a fiei'ce attack on Oglesby. The conflict 
was in the woods. There were no tall trees, but underbrush and scrubby 
oaks. There was a field with a rail-fence around it. There were ravines 
and knolls. In some places the bushes were so thick that you could see 
but a few feet. On such ground the battle raged — at first a rattling fire, 
then the thunder of the batteries, then a deep and heavy roll from thou- 



THE BEGINNING OF 1862. 153 

sands of muskets at once. Oglesbj holds liis ground till his men are out 
of ammunition. McArthur with his brigade does the same. But Pillow- 
has the most men, and finally drives them. He falls upon W. H. L. Wal- 
lace's brigade, on the left of Oglesbj, who has six Illinois regiments, with 
McAllister's two twentj-four-pound howitzers, and Taylor's, Schwartz's, 
and Dresser's batteries. 

The falling back of McArthur and Oglesby exposes Wallace's right 
flank, and he falls back to a new position, making in part a change of 
front along a low ridge. The Confederates rush forward, but are swept 
back. They attempt to take McAllister's guns, but are driven. Farther 
round, facing north, move Pillow's troops. 

" I must have reinforcements," is the w^ord from McClernand to Wal- 
lace, who sends Cruft's brigade. 

Just at this moment Buckner's division comes out of the intrench- 
ments, passing in front of the rifle-pits at the foot of the hill to attack W. 
H. L. Wallace's left. Two guns of Taylor's Battery which have been fir- 
ing towards the south wheel round towards the north-east and pour canis- 
ter upon the Confederates. Three-fourths of Floyd's troops are falling 
upon McClernand's one division. They seize several of Schwartz's and" 
McAllister's guns. Wallace sees that he must retreat, but his troops fall 
back steadilv, loading and firing^. 

At eleven o'clock General Pillow has folded the Union line so far back 
that the road is open for the withdrawal of the Confederates; Whj^ does 
not Floyd improve the opportunity ? Because General Pillow is a weak, 
vain, egotistical man. He has led the movement, and wishes to reap all 
the glory. He thinks that he has defeated General Grant and routed his 
army. Ignoring Floyd, he sends this despatch to Nashville to General 
Johnston: " On the honor of a soldier, the day is ours." He regarded him- 
self as a great general, and looked down upon Floyd, his superior in com- 
mand, as only a political general, ignorant of the art of war. Without 
consulting Floyd, he ordered Buckner to march out and attack the Union 
troops. Buckner obeyed the order, and moved towards the position occu- 
pied by General Lew. Wallace, who at the moment was talking with 
Colonel Ivawlins, of General Grant's staff. An oflicer came riding down 
the road as fast as his horse could run. " Save yourselves ! All is lost I" 
he shouted. But Wallace, instead of saving himself, put his troops in 
motion np the road to confront Buckner. He meets W. H. L. Wallace 
riding coolly to the rear with what troops he has left. 

" Are they pursuing ?" 

"Yes." 



154 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

" How far behind ?" 

"You will have just about time to form your line right here." 

The men of Thayer's brigade come into line upon the run. Up the 
road leap the horses of Wood's Battery, the men jumping from their lim- 
bers and wheeling the guns into position. A moment later the battle 
opens with great fury. The struggle is in the woods. A cloud of smoke 
rises above the trees. The hazel-bushes are whipped into shreds by the 
bullets. The Confederates can make no impression upon this line of men 
who have thus thrown themselves across their path. AV. II. L. Wallace and 
Oglesby are reforming in the rear. An hour passes, and then there comes 
a lull. 

General Grant the while has been on the gunboat St. JLouis, in con- 
sultation with Commodore Foote. He has heard no cannonade ; no up- 
roar of musketry has fallen upon his ears, nor intelligence of the attack 
reached him. He is on his way to his headquarters at Mrs. Crisp's 
house, a log-cabin, when he meets Captain Hillyer of his staff, very white 
in the face over what has happened. He is five miles from the scene 
of conflict. The mud is deep; he rides through it as best he can, to 
find the men in groups, the regiments disorganized, their cartridge-boxes 
empty. There is an abundant supply of ammunition, but the cfiicers 
have not thought of refilling the empty boxes. 

"There is a tide ia the affairs of men 
Wiiich, taken at its flood, leads on to fortune." 

A great hour has come to the man, who a few months ago was selling 
leather in Galena, so obscure a citizen that very few of his townsmen even 
knew that such a man as Ulysses S. Grant existed. He turns to his chief 
of staff, Colonel Webster, and says, " Some of our nien are pretty Ijadly 
demoralized, but the enemy must be more so, for he has attempted to force 
his way out, but has fallen back ; the one who attacks now will be victori- 
ous, and the enemy will have to be in a hurry if he gets ahead of me." 

On that instant decision hangs all the future — of Donelson, Vicksburg, 
Chattanooga, and Appomattox. Intuition, with clear reasoning, leads him 
to correct conclusions. The Confederates have come out in force ; their 
lines inside the fort must be thin somewhere, and now is the time to break 
them. 

" Fill your cartridge-boxes ; quick — and get into line ; they are trying 
to escape ; they must not be allowed to do so !" he shouts, and the cfiicers 
of his staff ride along the lines repeating it. As an organist touching the 
keys of the mighty instrument brings the myriad pipes responsive to his 



THE BEGINNING OF 18G2. 155 

touch, so this man, whom the world has not yet heard of, brings the thou- 
sands of human wills upon the instant responsive to his own. A moment 
ago they were despondent, but now their cheers ring out upon the wintry 
air. They fill their boxes, take their places in line, and stand ready to 
obey commands. Five minutes ago, confusion ; now, discipline and order. 

In a moment the plan of attack is decided upon. General Smith's 
division, which has not been engaged, will attack with all its energy. 
Smith had advanced his skirmishers in the morning. He is an old soldier ; 
of all Grant's troops his are the best disciplined. Colonel Cook's brigade 
is directed to make a feint of attacking the fort. Major Cavender brings 
his heav^y guns into position and opens a furious cannonade, under cover 
of which Colonel Lauman's brigade is to advance upon the rifle-pits on 
the outer ridge. If he can get possession of these, Cavender can plant his 
guns there and rake the inner trenches. 

The Confederates, Colonel Hanson's brigade — the Second Kentucky, 
Twentieth Mississippi, and Thirtieth Tennessee — are in the rifle-pits. 
There are six pieces of artillery and another brigade behind the inner in- 
trenchments, all ready to pour their fire upon the advancing columns. 
Colonel Hanson's men lie secure behind the breastworks, their rifles thrust 
between the logs. It is fifteen or twenty rods to the bottom of the slope, 
and there you find the fallen trees, with their braiiches interlocked, and 
sharp stakes driven into the ground. Beyond is the meadow where Lau- 
man forms his brigade. 

General Smith leads the Union troops — Lauman's men — to the mead- 
ow, while Colonel Cook moves upon the left and begins the attack. The 
soldiers hear far down on the right Wallace's division driving the enemy 
from the hill. 

It is almost sunset. The rays of light fall upon the backs of Lauman's 
men and into the faces of the Confederates. The advancing brigade is in 
solid column of regiments, the Second Iowa in front ; then the Twenty- 
fifth Indiana, the Seventh and Fourteenth Iowa — four firm and unwaver- 
ing lines, which throw their shadows forward as the}'' advance. Birge's 
sharp-shooters are flung out on each flank. 

The brigade halts upon the meadow. General Smith rides along the 
line and informs the troops tliat they are to take the rifle-pits with the 
baj'onet alone. He sits firmly on his horse, and his long gray hair, falling 
almost to his shoulders, waves in the evening breeze. The Confederate 
cannon cut them through with solid shot ; shells burst above and around 
them ; men drop from the ranks, or are whirled into the air ; there are sud- 
den gaps, but not a man flinches. They look not to the rear, but towards 



156 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

the front. There are the fallen trees, the hill, the line of a thousand mus- 
kets, the cannon thundering from the height beyond. There is no whis- 
pering in those solid ranks, no loud talking ; nothing but the " Steady ! 
steady !'' of the officers. 

They move across the meadow. A line of flame runs along the Con- 
federate works. Men drop from the advancing ranks to lie forever still 
beneath the forest-trees. With all the energy of life centred in one effort 
the living pass on, charging up the hill into the white smoke, driving the 
Confederates. The woods resound with their lusty cheers as they take 
possession of the works. 

Going down to Lew. Wallace's line, we see the Eighth Missouri and 
Eleventh Indiana regiments, under Morgan L. Smith, ready to advance. 
He lights a cigar and gives the order to move on. A bullet strikes the 
cigar from his lips. A soldier gives him another. " Thank you." He 
does not forget to be courteous, though the air is thick with bullets. The 
two regiuients, followed by others, rush up the hill, reach the road over 
which the Confederates intended to retreat, closing it once more. 

There was a council of Confederate officers at General Floyd's head- 
quarters. Nearly all the brigade commanders w^ere present. They were 
downhearted. General Floyd and General Pillow blamed General Buck- 
ner for not advancing earlier. 

" I advanced as soon as I could, and my troops fought as bi'avely as 
others," said Buckner. 

" Well, here we are, and it is useless to renew the attack with any hope 
of success. The men are exhausted," said Floyd. 

" We can cut our way out," said Major Brown, commanding the Twen- 
tieth Mississippi. 

"Some of us might escape, but the attempt would be attended with 
great slaughter," said Floyd. 

" We have got to surrender, for aught I see," said an officer. 

'• I wnll not surrender the command ; neither will I be taken prisoner," 
said Floyd. 

" I don't intend to be taken prisoner," added Pillow, 

There were three small steamboats in the river. Floyd marched his 
Virginia regiments on board. Pillow accompanied him. The boats swung 
into the stream and moved up the river. So they fled, leaving Buckner 
to surrender to General Grant. 

At daybreak a white flag waved above the breastworks, and an officer 
came out with a letter for General Grant, asking for an armistice till noon. 

" !No terms other than unconditional and immediate surrender can be 



THE BEGINNING OF 1862. 157 

accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works," was tlie an- 
swer. General Buckner has no alternative, and accepts the terms. 

I had passed the night on a steamboat with the fleet. Leaping ashore, 
I climbed over the embankment of the water - batteries, where the can- 
non, dismounted by the shot from the gunboats, were lying — one with 
its muzzle knocked off, others half buried in the yellow earth. The 
regiments of General Smith's division were marching into the fort, their 
banners waving in the bright sun, the bands playing. Down by the river 
and in the town were the Confederate regiments, their arms stacked, 
their knapsacks thrown upon the ground. They were woe-begone, weary, 
and hungry. They were kindling fires, using the picket - fences of the 
gardens. They felt that they had fought bravely, but that the battle had 
been lost through the incapacity of Floyd and Pillow. They said that 
Floyd was not only a thief but an imbecile. 

Passing through the shivering ranks, receiving courteous treatment 
from the soldiers, I entered the old hotel, with a wide veranda covering its 
front, and found General Buckner eating his scant breakfast of poor bacon, 
corn-bread, and coffee. General Grant arrived about noon. I was pres- 
ent at the formal surrender of the troops. The interview between Grant 
and Buckner was in the cabin of the steamboat Uncle Sam. 

In the cabin lay Colonel John A. Logan upon a cot. He had been 
wounded, and his wife was by his side ministering to his needs. On 
the day of the battle the Confederate force, so far as can be ascertained, 
exceeded twenty thousand. More than fourteen thousand soldiers were 
surrendered. The Union troops numbered about twenty-seven thousand. 

Let us go up to Nashville on this Sunday morning. At noon on Satur- 
day General Pillow had sent his despatch : " On the honor of a soldier, 
the day is ours."' 

There is great rejoicing. The newspapers have put out bulletins, 
and the crowds in the streets are reading them : 

" Enemy retreating 1 Glorious result ! Our boys following and press- 
ing their rear ! A complete victory !" 

A horseman comes tearing through the street, shouting " Fort Donel- 
son has surrendered, and the Yankees are coming !" 

IN'ever before such an excitement in Xashville as at that moment. Peo- 
ple began to pack up their goods, loading them on wagons. 

Before noon the steamboats arrived with Floyd and Pillow. Johnston's 
troops soon came from Bowling Green, passing through the city towards 
Murfreesboro. The people had supposed that Johnston would defend the 
city, but when they saw the troops moving away they became frantic. 



158 DRUxM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

"When the army was across the Cumberland, the beautiful wire sus- 
pension abridge which had cost more than two hundred thousand dollars 
was destroyed. The Confederates had more than a million dollars' worth 
of supplies in the city which they could not remove. The people rushed 
into the storehouses, helped themselves to flour, sugar, meat, clothing, 
shoes, and whiskey. 

In an hour they passed from wild entlinsiasm to despair. There was 
one Union man in Nashville who had stood resolutely for the old flag — 
Stephen Driver — who before the war was a sea-captain, sailing from Salem, 
in Massachusetts, to foreign lands. Once, when in a foreign port, he ren- 
dered important service to the place, and the people presented him w^ith a 
beautiful flag. A priest pronounced a blessing upon it as it rose to the 
mast-head of his ship, and he made a solemn promise to ever defend it, 
with his life if need be. He had made I^ashville his home. He opposed 
secession. When the war began he was obliged to secrete the flag. He 
sewed it into a quilt, and every night slept beneath it. He named it "Old 
Glory." Many times the Confederate soldiers searched his house to find 
it. " I shall yet raise it above the State-house !" he said to them. They 
threatened him with death, and he bade them do their worst. His hour 
of triumph came when the troops under Buell entered Nashville. He told 
the soldiers the story of " Old Glory," brouglit it out, went with them to 
the roof of the State-house, and flung it to the breeze, with the men in 
blue swinging their caps and shouting their hurrahs. 



THE SPRING OF 1862. 159 



CHAPTER YIIL 

THE SPRING OF 186 2. 

^'^IIE theatre of the war was wide, and the drama one of many scenes. 
-L The first one in the montli of March, 18G2, was in tlie far West, on 
tlie line between Missonri and Arkansas. 

There were at the breaking out of tlie war 50,000 Indians in New Mex- 
ico, 30,000 in Texas, 20,000 in Kansas and jS'ebraska : in all there were 
more than 400,000 who received supplies from the Government. 

Yery soon after the war began, Albert Pike, who was born in Boston, 
Massachusetts, who lived in Arkansas, and who was known to the woi-ld as 
a poet, was sent by Jefferson Davis to make a treaty with the Indians of 
the South-west. He told the Indians that they had been wronged by the 
United States ; that the Confederacy was thenceforth to be the govern- 
ment of the country, and that they would be well' cared for. 

He induced the chiefs to call the Indians together, and a great council 
was held August 21, 1861. Four thousand braves were there. John Ross 
was the principal chief of the Cherokees, and signed a treaty to act with 
the Confederate Gov^ernment. The Creeks joined them. They were sup- 
plied with arms, and in a short time several thousand warriors were en- 
rolled as soldiers in the Confederate army. 

Sterling Price and Benjamin McCulloch were commanders of the Con- 
federate troops, but they could not act in harmony, and General Earl 
Van Dorn was placed in command of the Department west of the Mis- 
sissippi. He was born in Missouri, was educated at "West Point, fought in 
the war with Mexico, and had deserted the flag of his country. When 
the war began he gathered a band of Texans and captured the troops of 
the United States Army in that State. 

Jefferson Davis appointed liitn to connnand the Department, hoping 
that he would induce the young men of Missouri to enlist in the army. 
There was great rejoicing in the Confederate army when he arrived. 
Forty cannon fired a salute. He made an address. 

"Soldiers," he said, "behold your leader. He comes to show you the 



160 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

way to glory and immortal renown. He comes to hurl back the minions 
of the despots at Washington, whose ignorance, licentiousness, and bru- 
tality are equalled by their own craven natures. They come to free your 
slaves, lay waste your plantations, burn your villages, and abuse your 
loving wives and beautiful daughters." 

He issued a proclamation, which was distributed by messengers through 
all the towns of Arkansas and northern Louisiana. Confederate sympa- 
thizers in Missouri distributed it in that State. 

" We have voted to be free," it read ; " we must now fight to be free, 
or j)resent to the world the humiliating spectacle of a nation of braggarts 
more contemptible than the tyrants who seek to enslave us. The flag of 
our country is waving on the southern border of Missouri, planted there 
by my hands under authority of our chief magistrate. It represents all 
that is dear to us in life. Shall it wave there in melancholy loneliness 
as a fall leaf in our primeval forests, or shall its beautiful field and bright 
stars flaunt in the breeze over the bright fields of Arkansas, Texas, and of 
Louisiana, as they are marshalling to do battle with Missouri for victory, 
for honor, and for independence ? 

" Awake, young men of Arkansas, and arm ! Beautiful maidens of 
Louisiana, smile not upon the craven youth who may linger by your 
hearths when the rude blast of war is sounding in your ears ! Texas 
chivalry, to arms I Hardship and hunger, disease and death are prefera- 
ble to slavish subjugation ; and a nation with a bright page in history and 
a glorious epitaph is better than a vassalled land, with honor lost and a 
people sunk in infamy !" 

To fire the hearts of the people of Arkansas and arouse his troops to 
action, he forged a telegraphic despatch that there had been a great bat- 
tle on the Mississippi, in which three Union gunboats were destroyed 
and twenty thousand Union troops were killed, wounded, or taken pris- 
oners. 

General Pike, who had been commissioned brigadier-general l)y Jef- 
ferson Davis, was placed in command of the Indians. 

The whole force, under Van Dorn, moved towards Pea Ridge to crush 
the only Union army south-west of St. Louis, under General Curtis, who 
had advanced to the boundary line of Arkansas. He had eleven thousand 
troops : the brigades of Osterhaus and Asboth, under General Sigel, the 
brigades of Davis and Carr, with thirty-eight cannon and howitzers. 

General Van Dorn's army had been hastily gathered. The Arkansas, 
Louisiana, and Texas troops numbered eleven thousand, and were com- 
manded by General McCulloch ; the Missouri troops were under Gen- 



THE SPRING OF 1862. 



161 



eral Price, and numbered eight tliousand. General Pike had two white 
regiments besides the Indians, niTmbering four tliousand, making the Con- 
federate army above twenty thousand. 

General Van Dorn was in the Boston Mountains, on the border of the 
Indian country, fifty miles from Pea Eidge, and lie determined to make 
a rapid march, get in rear of General Curtis, and strike a sudden blow, 
cutting off his retreat. 




It was a windy morning, March 
5, 1<S62, when the Confederate 
troops broke camp, packed up their 
iron kettles and tin dishes, and 
marched north along the road to 
Pea Ridge. Tliey had no long line 
of baggage -wagons, and marched 
rapidly, though the snow was whirl- 
ing in their faces. The movement 
was so rapid that Yan Dorn confi- 
dently expected to make it a sur- 
prise. 

" The Union troops are widely 
scattered," said the Confederate 
scouts. 

It was true. Sigel was south of 
Bentonville, several miles from the 
Third and Fourth divisions under Curtis 
out after forage, which would make the work all the easier for the Con- 
federates. 

Startling news reached General Curtis at two o'clock on the afternoon 
of March 5th. Men came riding into camp with tlie information that the 
Confederates were advancing. He is quick to act. lie must concen- 
trate his troops. Cavalrymen ride across the country with orders to tlie 
officers who are out after forage and to Sigel. He resolves to figlit a 
battle, altliough the Confederates outnumber him two to one. He selects 
his ground on Pea Ridge. 

Tlie road from Springfield to Fayetteville runs south-west. Leaving 
Elk Horn Tavern, wliere the landlord has a pair of antlers for a sign, and 
going south, we come to Sugar Creek and the hamlet of Mottsville, near 
which the Third and Fourth divisions of the Union army are in camp. 
Bentonville is ten miles west, near which Sigel is stationed. Ten miles 
brings us to Cross Hollows — a place wliere three hollows or ravines cross 
11 



PEA RIDGE. 



Some of the regiments were 



162 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



one another. The ravines are narrow — seventy-five feet wide — tlie banks 
steep, and the position one of great strength. Just south of Cross Hol- 
lows General Van Dorn pitches his tent. Keeping these points in mind, 
we shall see just how the Confederates moved to surprise General Curtis. 
General Curtis had formed his line facing south, expecting that Van 
Dorn would advance from Cross Hollows ; but that was not Van Dorn's 
plan. He sends a small force up the road towards General Curtis, but 
the main army turns west towards Bentonville to strike Sigel. 

Messengers have brought orders to Sigel to retreat to Pea Ridge. He 
has two hundred wagons, which he sends in advance. The Confederate 

cavalry ride rapidly round 
him and gain his rear, but 
he fights his way through 
them, losing twenty-eight 
killed and fifty prisoners, 
and joins General Curtis, 
who has discovered what 
Van Dorn is intending 
to do, and who quickly 
changes his front, forming 
his line facing north-east 
instead of south-west. 

General Curtis sends 
General Carr's division up 
the road on the morning 
of March Yth to Elk Horn 
Tavern. The troops of 
this division are to hold 
the right of the line. 
They are to be in the 
thick of the fight, wliicli is 
to rage around the tavern, 
and which is to give a 
name to the battle — the Confederates calling it the battle of Elk Horn. 

Xext in line is General Davis's division, and beyond him the tr'ooj)S 
under Sigel. 

General Price, with the Missourians, has led the advance of the Con- 
federates. They have made a long march, have reached the road north- 
east of Elk Horn Tavern, and confront General Carr. Next in line, 
towards Cross -timber Hollows, are the Arkansas troops, under General 




MAP OF PEA RIDGE. 



THE SPRING OF 1862. 163 

McCnllocli, while the Texans, Louisianians, and Indians are in front of 
Sigel. 

It -was half -past ten in the morning when Colonel Osterhans, with 
the Third Iowa Cavalry, a detachment of the First Missonri Cavalry, the 
Twenty-second Indiana, and Davidson's battery advanced to reconnoitre 
the Confederate position. The cavalry drove in the enemy's pickets, who 
retreated to the woods ; but suddenly the woods were thick with Confed- 
erates, who rushed upon the Union battery and captured two guns. At 
the same moment there was a ripple of musketry in the woods north of 
the tavern. Price was advancing, and the Union pickets were falling 
back. 

The battle was raging so fiercely on the left that General Curtis sent 
General Davis to assist Osterhaus. The woods were alive with Indians, 
under General Pike and the celebrated chief, John Ross. The Texans 
and Louisiana troops charged with fury. In the fight General McCuUoch 
was killed and General Mcintosh wounded. 

General Davis saw that the Confederate left flank was exposed, and 
sent the Eighteenth Indiana to attack it. The regiment fell upon the 
Indians, driving them, and strewing the field with killed and wounded, 
rushing upon the cannon, capturing them, wheeling them into position, 
and turning them upon the fleeing Confederates. The battle on the left 
centre was over. 

General. Carr placed Dodge's brigade east of the road, and Colonel Van- 
dever's brigade west of it. Captain Jones's battery was the first to open 
fire. Colonel Vandever was at Iluntsville, forty miles away, when Gen- 
eral Curtis's orders reached him. The brigade had marched the distance, 
stopping three times only, making a rest at each halt of fifteen minutes. 
The troops had arrived the night before, but they were rested, and ready 
for the battle. 

We see the brigade advancing half a mile north of the tavern, and 
Captain Ilayden's battery from Dubuque, Iowa, coming into position and 
opening fire. Sterling Price determines to strike with all his force. He 
presses on, drives the Union troops towards the tavern, making a sudden 
rush, and capturing one of the cannon. 

General Carr was outnumbered two to one. " I must have reinforce- 
ments," is his message to Curtis. 

" I send you my body-guard ; you must hold them," was the response, 
and Major Bowen's battalion of cavalry went down the road with a howit- 
zer. They were all the troops that could be spared at the moment. 

" I cannot hold on much longer," was the second message from Carr. 



164 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

" You shall have help," was the replj, and a battery came nj) from the 
left with a battalion of infantry. 

A few minutes later Curtis himself, with Asboth's division, came over 
the ridge to Carr's aid. Through the afternoon Price had pressed on, Carr 
disputing every inch of ground. lie had been driven a mile; a bullet had 
pierced his arm, one-fourth of his men had been killed or wounded, but his 
line had not been broken. 

Asboth's batteries wheeled into position south of the tavern. The 
Second Missouri and Third Iowa Infantiy had fired away all their ammu- 
nition, but they charged and drove the Confederates. 

Night came, with the Confederates defeated on the left, but well satis- 
fied with what they had accomplished on the right. They had captured 
one cannon, had possession of the road to Springfield, cutting off Curtis's 
retreat. Yan Dorn made his headquarters at the tavern and 23re2:)ared for 
the morrow. 

It is not a very bright outlook for General Curtis when the sun goes 
down. His line of retreat is cut off, his suj^plies nearly exhausted. His 
mules and horses have had little to eat for forty-eight hours. He is hemmed 
in. He must be ready to fight in tlie morning, and must win the victory. 
He does not sit down and wring his hands in despair, for he is confident 
that he will win. He knows the ground, and reforms his line, with Da- 
vis's division on the right, wliere the fighting is to be most severe, and 
places Carr in the centre, w'ith Sigel on the left. His line is shorter 
than it has been. He knows that Yan Dorn will advance from the tav- 
ern with all his force. 

Eight o'clock, and the Confederates have not advanced. General Cur- 
tis resolves to begin the battle. The cannon open, and Sigel brings his 
infantry forward, attacking tiie right flank of the Confederates. 

It would be a long account were I to narrate all tlie details : how Pat- 
tison's brigade and the First Indiana battery fought in the fields south of 
the tavern and east of the road ; how the Confederate batteries opened 
upon them, compelHng them to fall back; how Wliite's brigade and Da- 
vidson's battery made the line a sheet of flame ; how the Twenty-fifth IIU- 
' nois took position beliind a fence on the left, and the Twelfth Missouri, 
with twelve guns, on the ridge in their rear, the men lying down, and 
the cannon sending shells into the Confederate lines, silencing Yan Dorn's 
batteries, discouraging his troops ; the Indians fleeing, the Arkansas and 
Louisiana troops losing heart, the Confederate fire growing fainter, the 
troops fleeing at last — some towards Cross-timber Hollows, the Missouri- 
ans, under Price, running along the road towards Springfield, then fleeing 



THE SPRING OF 1862. 



16^ 



west, scattering in every direction so suddenly tliat General Curtis is at a 
loss wliicli way to turn in pursuit. 

Eight miles away, Van Dorn gathered a portion of his scattered troops, 
and sent a request to General Curtis to bury the dead and care for the 
wounded. 

It was not a pleasant scene that General Albert Pike beheld — the 
bodies of the Union dead hacked to pieces by the Indians, the wounded 
scalped and tomahawked. General Curtis charged Van Dorn with hav- 
ing permitted the horrible work to go on, and the Confederate general 
did not deny the charge. 




BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE. 



The victory was won, but at a cost of more than thirteen hundred 
Union soldiers killed and wounded. How many Van Dorn lost will never 
be known ; but as the Confederates attacked, while General Curtis stood 
on the defensive, there w^as ^^robably a greater Confederate loss. 



On Saturday and Sunday, March 8 and 9, 1SG2, near Fortress Monroe, 
was enacted the most dramatic event of the war — an engagement between 
two naval vessels the like of which never before had been witnessed. We 
have already seen that when Virginia seceded it became necessarj'' to de- 
stroy the navy yard at Norfolk, that the frigate Merrlmac M-as scuttled, set 
on fire, and that it sunk before the hull was very much injured. 



160 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

The Confederates had raised the Merrimac, and men were at work 
night and day rebuilding it, making the sides sloping, like the roof of a 
house, and plating it with iron nearly four inches thick. The engines and 
boilers had not been injured. Spies which went to Norfolk from Fortress 
Monroe told the Union officers of what was going on, and said that before 
long the Merrimac would be a match for all the Union war-shijDS. It 
would have four eleven-inch guns on each side, and an Armstrong rifled 
one-lmndred-pound cannon at the bow and one at the stern — ten guns 
in all. 

There was one man in the country who had been thinking about naval 
vessels, and the best way to construct them : John Ericsson, who was born 
in Sweden in 1803. As soon as he was old enough to use a jack-knife he 
began to whittle. He made water-wheels and a little saw-mill, which he 
set to running in the brook by the roadside. He used a piece of watch- 
spring for a saw, cutting the teeth with a file which he borrowed from a 
blacksmith. For the crank of the water-wheel he used part of a tin spoon. 
He learned to draw on birch-bark, and made a pair of wooden compasses, 
using needles for the points. He picked out the fine hair from the fur 
on his mother's cloak and made soft and delicate brushes to use in color- 
ing his drawings. This John Ericsson was soon known as an ingenious 
boy. He made his way to England. From England he came to the United 
States. In 1851: the idea came to him of building a war-ship on a new 
plan, to be plated with iron, and with an iron revolving dome, or turret, 
in which he would have two powerful cannon. Such a ship would be 
invulnerable, and would be more than a match for all the great wooden 
vessels afloat. 

In October, 1861, he went to Washington to see if the Government 
would employ him to build such a vessel. 

" It will be top-heavy and \^\^ over, and go to the bottom with all its 
crew," said the admiral who examined his drawings. 

That stirred the blood of John Ericsson, who explained his plans so 
well that Admiral Paulding said, " I have learned more about the stability 
of a vessel from what you have said than I ever knew before." 

A contract was made with him to have one of his vessels ready in just 
one hundred days. The Navy Department was in trouble over the news 
which spies brought from Norfolk. 

One hundred days ! How quickly they go by when a great M'ork is on 
hand ! But in the Novelty Iron "Works, in Brooklyn, forges were flaming 
and steam-hammers pounding. The vessel was one hundred and twenty- 
four feet long; the frame of oak, twenty- seven inches thick, and out- 



THE SPRING OF 1862. 



167 




JOHN ERICSSON. 

side of it were five iron plates, each an inch thick ; the deck was flat, 
like a raft, covered with iron ; the turret was twenty feet in diameter 
inside, formed of iron— eight plates, each an inch thick. In front of 
the turret was the pilot-house. In the turret were two eleven-inch guns. 
The vessel had no masts or sails, but was to move wholly by two steam- 
engines. The keel was laid October 22d, and on January 30, 1S02, the 
strange craft, unlike any vessel ever seen, glided into the water. 



168 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

What name slioiild she bear ? Captain Ericsson believed that the ves- 
sel would bring about a new order of things in naval architecture ; that 
it would astonish and admonish all the naval officers of the world. It 
Avould be a " monitor," to give instruction and advice ; and so he named 
it the Monitoi\ 

In Hampton Eoads, blockading Norfolk and James River, lay a fleet 
of twenty war-ships, carrying two hundred and ninety -one guns. The 
frigate Congress had fifty guns ; St. Lawrence., fifty ; Minnesota, forty- 
eight ; Roanohe, forty ; Cumherland, twenty - four. The other vessels 
were small. The Congress and Cumberland were old sailing frigates ; 
the Minnesota and Roanoke steamers, but the engines of the latter were 
out of order. 

Saturday, March 8, 1862. It was washing-day on board the fleet, and 
the sailors of the Congress and Cumberland, near Newport News, washed 
their shirts in the morning and hung them in the rigging to dry. 

It was eleven o'clock when they saw three vessels coming down from 
Norfolk — the Virginia and two small steamers, the Teaser and Yo7'k- 
town — carrying rifled guns. 

Captain Frank Buchanan, born in Maryland, commanded the Merri- 
mac, which the Confederates had renamed Virginia. He was educated 
by the United States Government, and had served under the Stars and 
Stripes thirty-five years. He had grown gray in the service of his coun- 
try, but had joined the Confederacy. Maryland had not seceded. He 
could have no excuse such as Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, and most 
of the Confederate officers could put forth — that the State to which they 
owed allegiance had seceded. Maryland was loyal to the Union, and Cap- 
tain Buchanan was fighting not only against the nation, but against the 
State that gave him birth. 

It is low tide. Captain Buchanan has selected the hour when the sail- 
ing-vessels will not be able to get a spring on their cables and swing their 
broadsides towards the Merrimac. 

Lieutenant Morris commands the Cumberland, Lieutenant Smith the 
Congress. Tlie drums beat, the sailors spring to their guns, kicking off 
their shoes, throwing aside their jackets, and tying their handkerchiefs 
around their heads. 

A tug-boat, the Zouave, with one gun, runs alongside tlie Congress to 
take her in tow, just as it used to tow canal-boats loaded with grain in the 
harbor of New York ; but the tug is weak, her machinery breaks down, 
and the frigate runs aground. 

Captain Buchanan sees that she is helpless ; he will not stop for her 



THE SPRING OF 1862. 



169 



now, but will make for the Cumherland. The one-liundred-pounder Arin- 
strono; e-iiu at the bow sends a shot which kills and wounds ten men on 
the Cumherland^ a second shot kills and wounds twelve more. The 
Teaser and Yorktoivn pour in their fire. The guns of the Cumherland 
flame, but the ten-inch solid shot glance like pease from the sloping sides 
of the Merrhnac. 

Upon the Cumherland steams the Merrimac, her great iron beak run- 
ning into the frigate's bows. The 
oaken timbers are crushed into 
splinters. A shell tears through 
the sides of the frigate as you 
could throw a bullet through a 
sheet of paper, killing four of the 
men already wounded. The Cum- 
herland is beo-innino; to settle. 

" To the pumps !" shouts Lieu- 
tenant Morris, and some of the 
sailors work the pumps, while the 
others tire the guns or lift the 
wounded to the upper deck. 

Through the sides come the 
solid shot and shells, tearing great 
gaps, knocking knees, timbers, 
braces into kindlings, killing and hamptox roads. 

wounding the men, making terri- 
ble havoc. Down, down, lower in the water, sinks the Cumherland, with 
her cannon still flaming, the sailors shouting to keep up the flght. The 
vessel keels over till the upper deck is like the roof of a house. 

" Do you surrender ?" shouts Buchanan. 

" No, sir," is the answer of Morris. 

" ' Strike j^our flag!' the rebel cries, 

In his arrogant old plantatiou strain. 
' Never!' our gallant Morris replies; 

'It is better to sink than to j-iekl!' 
And the whole air pealed 
With the cheers of our men." 

The last gun on the upper deck is level with the water. Matthew Ten- 
ney pulls the lanyard, and a shot is hurled into a port-hole of the Merriy 
mac, dismounting a gun. At that instant the Cuiaherland goes down, 
sucking him into the whirlpool. The cannon on the upper side break 




170 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

from their fastenings and crash amid the drowning crew, of whom one 
hundred and seventeen are killed or drowned. 

The water is sixty feet deep, bat the topmast is above the surface, 
with the flag still flying. 

"Next morn, as the sun rose over the bay, 
Still floated our flag at th« main-mast head. 
Lord, how beautiful was Thy day ! 
Every waft of the air 
Was a whisper of prayer 
Or a dirge for the dead. 

"Ho! brave hearts, that went down in the seas, 
Ye are at peace in the troubled stream. 
Ho ! brave land, with hearts like these. 
Thy flag that is rent in twain 
Shall be one again, 
And without a seam." 

That last shell of the Cumberland struck into the muzzle of the Arm- 
strong gun at the bow of the Merrimac^ exploding it and killing seven 
men and wounding Captain Buchanan, 

The Merrimac steers for the Congress^ aground and helpless, takes 
position four hundred feet astern of the frigate, and fires a shell, which 
kills seventeen men. The frigate has only two guns which she can use. 
In a few minutes one is dismounted and the other knocked to pieces. 
The Merrimac comes nearer, fires hot shot, which set the Congress on 
fire and make awful havoc, killing and wounding nearly one-half of the 
men. It is murder ;. the crew can make no resistance. 

Commander Smith is killed, and the ofiicer next in command hauls 
down the flag. The flames burst forth and burn a while ; the sailors leap 
overboard, some to escape, some to drown ; then comes the explosion, and 
the noble frigate disappears forever. 

The Merrimac makes for the Minnesota, but draws too much water to 
get at her. The YorMown and Teaser run near, and with their rifled guns 
kill and wound several men on board ; but the Minnesota keeps them at bay. 

Kight sets in, and the Merrimac, like a great spider coming out of 
its den, having made a good meal for the day, steams back to N'orfolk. 
On Sunday morning it will make a breakfast of the Minnesota, Roanohe, 
St. Lav3rence, and all the rest. 

Captain Buchanan has killed and wounded more than three hundred 
of his old associates. He has w^on a great victory for the Confederacy, 
but will the world regard it as an honorable record ? 



THE SPRING OF 1862. 171 

What rejoicing in Norfolk, in Richmond, Charleston, Savannah, and 
thronffhout the South, as the news flashed over the wires ! In a few 
days the MerriTnac would be at Baltimore, New York, and Boston, car- 
rying havoc and consternation. There was nothing afloat that could 
destroy her. The cannon in the forts guarding the harbor of New York 
would be only pop-guns; the eleven -inch solid shot would glide harm- 
lessly from her sides. In imagination, Jefferson Davis and the people 
of Richmond saw France and England and all the world recognizing 
the Confederacy, and the great powers of Europe reconstructing their 
navies. 

It is early dawn Sunday morning when the spider, with an appetite 
sharpened by its luncheon of yesterday, eager to make a full meal, steams 
down to Hampton Roads. Captain Catesby Jones has succeeded Captain 
Buchanan as commander. 

Captain Jones sees something moving through the water. It is a very 
strange craft; never before has he seen anything like it. There is a flat 
surface, even with the water, a short piece of funnel, a round turret, a 
small cupola, and the Stars and Stripes flying from a staff — nothing more. 
It is coming fearlessly, insolently towards the Merrimac. 

It is the Monitor, which reached Fortress Monroe at nine o'clock Sat- 
urday night, John L. AYorden commander. Samuel Howard has volun- 
teered to act as pilot. 

" Steer straight towards her," is the order of Captain "VVorden. 

The Teaser and Yorktown, which have come down to take a share in 
the feast, turn back. They do not like the looks of that "cheese -box on 
a raft," as one sailor calls her, steering fearlessly up to the Merrhnac, 
which opens fire, but whose shot glance harmlessly from the revolving 
turret. 

Nearer glides the Monitor, like a weasel approaching its prey. The 
turret ceases to turn for a moment, the thick iron slides covering the two 
port-holes swing, the two guns flame, and the eleven-inch solid shot, each 
M'eighing one hundred and sixty-eight pounds, rip up the iron plates of 
the Merrimac. The slides fall back over the port-holes, the turret turns 
once more, the gunners ram in the cartridges, lift the solid shot, and again 
the guns of the Monitor belch their flames. The vessels are side by side, 
so near that the clouds of smoke from each become one cloud, for the mo- 
ment hiding them from the people standing on the shore at Sewell's Point 
and Newport News. Two shot strike the turret, but do no harm, while 
those of the Monitor are splitting the iron plates of the Merrimac and 
shattering the timbers. 



172 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

The Merriniac is heavy and unwieldy, the Monitor light and agile. 
Tlie leviathan puts on steam to run down the pnny craft. 

" Hard-a-port the helm !" shouts Captain AVorden, and the Monitor 
swihffs round in sncli a wav that the blow does no harm. 

A shell explodes against the pilot-house, blinding Captain Worden, and 
Lieutenant Green takes command. The Monitor has used up all the solid 
shot which had been hoisted into the turret, and steams away to get ready 
for another attack. 

The Merrimac^ no longer attempting to make a meal of the Mimie- 
sota, steams towards Norfolk with her men at the pumps, for the water is 
pouring in through the seams and rents made by the shot of the Monitor. 
Tugs take her in tow ; but only with constant pumping and bailing can 
she be kept afloat. Her sides are broken, the massive timbers crushed ; 
great pieces of iron have been torn away. 

The recognition of the Confederacy by England, France, and the gov- 
ernments of Europe is not so near as it api3eared to be. The Merrimae 
will not bombard New York or set Boston on fire. The day of wooden 
ships has gone by forever, and the iron -age has come. 

All the world talked about this battle of the iron ships. The one 
was likened to Goliath, the other to David with his sling. 

The hopes and jubilant expectations of the people of the South be- 
gan to fade away ; for in the Northern workshops forges were blazing 
and steam-hammers pounding, building other monitors; while in the 
South there were no iron-mills, nor were there any workmen to construct 
an iron-clad navy. Labor and invention were w^inning victories on the 
sea as well as on the land. 

It was seen that Hatteras Inlet could be used to good advantage ; that 
a fleet of gunboats, accompanied by troops on light-draft vessels, might 
use it as a door-way to reach the eastern portion of North Carolina. 

The Secretary of War and President Lincoln thought favorably of the 
plan, and very soon there were lively times at Fortress Monroe : the ar- 
rival of a great fleet of steamers and war-ships, and the gathering of fifteen 
thousand men under General Biirnside. Most of the troops were from 
New England. 

General H. A. Wise had been Governor of Virginia before the war. 
It was he who signed the warrant for the execution of John Brown. He 
had been a member of Congress for many years, and had wielded great 
influence. Being a general in the Confederate service, he was sent to 
defend the North Carolina coast. The Confederate Secretary of AYar, 



THE SPRING OF 1862. 



173 



Mr. Benjamin, and Jefferson Davis liad no great love for General Wise, 
because he was very independent, and was in the habit of criticising their 
administration of affairs. General Wise called for ten thousand men to 
defend Eoanoke Island. Mr. Benjamin told him that he must get the 




MAP OP TUE NORTH CAROLIXA COAST. 



men of ]!^orth Carolina to enlist ; but recruits did not come. General 
Wise bitterly complained that he could get no supplies from the Secre- 
tary of War, who was accused of allowing his personal feelings to inHu- 
ence his action. 

By employing gangs of slaves, General Wise soon had a line of forti- 



174 DEUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

fications on Eoanoke Island, with twenty-two heavy cannon. He had 
eiglit small steamers, each carrying one or two guns. 

On Snnday, January lltli, a fleet of nearly one hundred steamers and 
sailing-vessels took their departure from Fortress Monroe. None of the 
captains, none of the officers of the army of fifteen thousand, except the 
commander. General Burnside, knew their destination till the captains 
opened their sealed instructions, and found that they were to make for 
Hatteras Inlet. On Monday a storm came on, and six of the vessels Were 
wrecked and three men drowned. Not till the first week in February 
was the fleet in Pamlico Sound. 

Not till February 7th was Commodore Goldsborough ready to bombard 
the Confederate forts. At ten o'clock the sailors on the gunboats saw a 
line of signal flags flying at the mast-head of the Southjield, the flag-ship 
of the fleet. This is what they read : 

" On this day our country expects every man to do his duty." 

The Stars and /Stripes led the way, and the other vessels followed. 

Down from the northern end of the Sound steamed the Confederate 
fleet, under Commodore Lynch. It was past eleven o'clock when the 
Stars and Stripes sent a shot from its one-hundred-pounder rifled gun 
spinning towards Fort Bartow. It w^as the signal for battle. Commodore 
Lynch's largest vessel, the Curlew, was quickly riddled by solid shot that 
crashed through her sides. The water was pouring in, and the captain 
ran her ashore. 

A continuous storm of shells rained upon the fort, tossing up clouds 
of sand, ploughing through the embankment, dismounting cannon, cut- 
ting down the flag-staff, setting the barracks on Are. Through the after- 
noon the bombardment went on, the fire of the forts growing fainter, 
the Confederate fleet moving away beyond the reach of the long-range 
rifles. 

Behind the gunboats came the transjjorts, with the Union troops on 
board. By the side of General Burnside stood a colored boy, Tom. He 
was only twenty years old. He had been a slave of John M. Daniel, of 
Eoanoke. He longed for liberty. He knew that there was a Union fleet 
and Union soldiers at Hatteras Inlet, and one morning when his master 
called him, Tom did not answer. He had crept away in the darkness, and 
managed to get across the water and into the Union lines. He knew all 
about Roanoke Island, the forts, the piles and sunken vessels in the sound, 
and the number of Confederate troops on the island. He knew w^here 
there was a landing-place — Ashby's Harbor — a little inlet on the west side 
of the island, half-way up to Fort Bartow ; the troops could land there, 



THE SPRING OF 1862. 



175 



and save wading through tlie marshes. He pointed out the place, and was 
of great service. 

General Burnside had three brigades : one commanded by General J. 
G. Foster, who was in Fort Sumter when the South Carolinians began the 
war, one commanded by General Parke, and one by General Reno. In 




GENERAL BUKNSIDE. 



the woods by Ashby's Harbor were some Confederate troops, with their 
cannon ; but the shells of the gunboats soon sent them upon the run up 
the narrow road towards their breastworks. 

Night sets in. Rain is falling, but the soldiers leap into their boats, 
reach the marsh, wade knee-deep in mud, and before midnight ten thou- 
sand men are on shore. 



176 



DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 




BOMBARDMENT OF ROANOKE ISLAND. 



There are two thousand five hundred Confederate troops on the isl- 
and, commanded by Colonel Shaw. Three hundred of them are behind a 
breastwork, built across the road a mile from Ashby's Harbor. Up the 
road march the soldiers of Foster's brigade, tlie Twenty-fifth Massachu- 
setts in advance, followed by the Twenty-third Massachusetts. They come 
upon the Confederate skirmishers, who fire a volley and then flee to the 
breastworks. The Confederate cannon open. The howitzers reply, and 
the musketry begins. The Twenty-seventh Massachusetts and the Tenth 
Connecticut arrive, and the fight rages more fiercely. 

General Reno's brigade pressed on to take part in tlie conflict, the 
Twenty-first Massachusetts, Fifty- first New York, Fifty- first Pennsylva- 
nia, and Ninth New^ Jersey pushing out through the swamp on the left, 
wading waist-deep in water, forming on Foster's right towards Eoanoke 
Sound. 

General Parke's brigade relieves General Foster's. The soldiers gave 
little heed to the volley that burst npon them. A few dropped, but the 
line went on — over the embankment. With a hurrah they seized tlie 
cannon and poured a volley upon the panic-stricken Confederates fleeing 
up the road, casting aside guns, knapsacks, and cartridge-boxes. 

The battle was over. The Union troops soon overtook tlie Confed- 
erates, who gave themselves up as prisoners. All were captured, with 
forty heavy cannon. 



THE SPRING OF 1862. 



177 



Among the Confederate wounded was Captain AVise, son of the gen- 
erah WJien tlie war began he was editor of a paper in Richmond, and 
captain of the " Richmond Bhies." He liad written hard tilings about 
" Lincohi's liirelings," as he called the Union troops, had shown his devo- 
tion to the Confederacy by fighting bravely to the last. He was mor- 
tally wounded, and died soon after the battle ; his body was tenderly 
cared for by General Burnside. 

How strangely things come round ! It was but a little while before 
the breaking out of the war that 
General Wise, then Governor of 
Virginia, sat unmoved while a beau- 
tiful girl kneeled before him plead- 
ing for the life of her father. It 
was the daughter of Cook, one of 
John Brown's soldiers. Tears rolled 
down her cheeks, but no moisture 
gathered in his eyes as he listened 
to her prayer. 

" Your father has forfeited his 
life to the law, and the law must 
have its course," he said ; took up 
his pen, dipped it in the ink, signed 
the death - warrant of Cook and 
John Brown. Then he took out 
his cigar-case and turned to one of 
his officers : " Do you smoke, col- 
onel? these are good Havanas." 

But now a flag of truce comes 
from General Wise, begging for the body of his son, and General Burn- 
side courteously complies with the request. 

In Portsmouth the bells are tolling, and a mournful procession wind- 
ing through the streets. The gray-haired man looks down upon the face 
of his son, takes the cold hand in his ; tears roll down his cheeks. 

"He has died for me! he has died for me !" he cries, in bitter anguish. 

His son has fallen, and he feels that disaster has come to the Confed- 
eracy through the incompetency of the Secretary of War and the personal 
pique of Jefferson Davis. He dictates a protest to the Confederate Con- 
gress, censuring the Secretary and President. 

There was a commotion in Richmond when the people beheld, one 
morning, in the street near Jefferson Davis's house, a black coffin, with a 
12 




UENKY A. W1?;E. 



178 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



, ' " SOUND 

'battery 



I'ope and a noose at one end coiled upon it. The police never could dis- 
cover who placed it there, but it made a great sensation ; and General 

Wise's protest to Con- 
gress caused the appoint- 
ment of a committee to 
investigate affairs and see 
who was to l)lame for 
the disasters that liad 
come to the Confederacy 
in Nor til Carolina and 
in the West. 

" If blame attaches 
to any one, it ought to 
fall on the Secretary of 
War and General lin- 
ger," read the report. 

General linger might 
have sent ten thousand 
men from Portsmouth 
through the Dismal 
Swamp Canal to Roan- 
oke Island, but did not. 
So unpopular was Mr. 
Benjamin that he had to 
resign his position as 
Secretary of War ; but 
Jefferson Davis appoint- 
ed him Secretary of State, which had the effect of weakening the confi- 
dence of the peojDle in the Confederate Government. 

General Burnside did not wish to retain the prisoners he had captured, 
and so released them upon the condition and oath that they never again 
would serve against the United States. 




MAP OF ROANOKE ISLAND. 



South of Cape Lookout is the harbor and town of Beaufort, with a 
railroad running west. The River Neuse comes down from the centre 
of North Carolina, and empties into Pamlico Sound. The entrance 
to the harbor of Beaufort was commanded by Fort Macon, which the 
Governor of the State had seized before the war began. Steamers 
from England were finding shelter under its guns, running the block- 
ade, bringir^ supplies for the South, and carrying back cotton. It 



THE SPRING OF 1862. 



179 



was determined to put a stop to all this. Having- captured Ilatteras 
Inlet and Roanoke Island, it would be an easy matter to approach the 
fort on the side where the walls were weakest. Before attempting it, 
ISTewbern, on the railroad and river, where a Confederate army was gath- 
ering, must be captured. 

That we may see how important a place Beaufort was to the blockade- 




JUDAH p. BENJAMIN. 



runners, and what they were doing for the Confederacy, let us go over to 
Southampton, in England, where the Confederate war-steamer Nashville 
is lying, February 1, 1862. Near her is the United States war-ship Tusca- 
wm, which has been sent across the Atlantic to watch the Nashville and 
follow her the moment she sails. When three miles from land the Tmca- 
rora is to open fire upon her. The British war-ships Dauntless and War- 
rior are there to prevent the Tuscarora from sailing till twenty-four hours 



180 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

after the Nashville departs. On February 3d the Nashville, which was a 
fast sailer, left Southampton ; twenty-four hours later the Tusoarora was 
allowed to depart, but of course could not overtake her. 

While Burnside was getting ready to move into Pamlico Sound, the 
Nashville reached Bermuda. The British Government had issued an or- 
der that no American war-ship should take coal in that port, but tlie Nash- 
ville was allowed to fill her bunkers, and on the 28th of February she 
slipped past the blockaders and entered Beaufort with a cargo valued at 
more than three million dollars. She stayed two weeks, taking on a load 
of cotton, and then slipped out past the blockaders at night, while the 
cannon, arms, and ammunition which she brought were being whirled 
through Newbern to Raleigh, and thence to Richmond. 

The River Trent comes from the south-west and joins the Neuse at 
Newbern. The Neuse comes from the north-west, and is very broad be- 
low the town. General Branch was in command of the Confederate 
troops. He built seven forts on the banks of the Neuse, and carried from 
that stream a line of breastworks to the Trent. The fortifications were 
two miles from the town, crossing the railroad and the highway. The 
slaves threw np the redoubts, and there were heavy cannon in position to 
open upon the gunboats. 

In Fort Thompson, where his line began, there were thirteen heavy 
guns ; in Fort Dixie, four ; in Fort Brown, eight ; in Fort Ellis, eight ; in 
Fort Low, eight ; in Union Point Battery, two — in all, forty-three heavy 
cannon. To prevent the gunboats from getting up to the town, old hulks 
were sunk in the river, and spars, with great iron spikes driven into them, 
to pierce the hulls of the gunboats. Torpedoes were also planted in the 
river. With such defences and obstructions, and ten thousand troops, 
General Branch expected to defend the place, and keep the Union army 
and fleet at bay. 

Colonel Estvan, of England, who was in the Confederate service, was 
sent by the Confederate Secretary of War to examine the defences. The 
Confederate ofiicers had a jolly dinner-party. 

"As soon as the champagne went round," Colonel Estvan says, "every 
man present was eager to make a speech. General Branch proposed a 
toast in honor of the Confederacy, after a speech of half an hour. The 
colonel of the Second North Carolina Cavalry responded. He dilated on 
the matchless gallantry of his ti'oops, their prowess being such as to throw 
the deeds of the Greeks and Romans into the shade. The whole corps 
was ready to die to the last man. Let us make Newbern a second Sebas- 
topol, before the walls of which the enemy must perish." 



THE SPRING OF 18G2. 



181 



"Hnrnili ! We'll make it a Sebastopol !" shouted the company, filling 
their glasses. 

"With ten thousand troops such as I have," said Colonel Speil, "I 
would have taken Sebastopol in fourteen days, and not left one stone upon 
another." 

General Branch had sevens regiments of infantry — the Seventh, Six- 
teenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-fifth, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-sixth, and Thirty- 
seventh North Carolina — and two regiments of cavalry, with thirty-six 
pieces of field artillery, and all the heavy guns in the forts. 




LANDING AT NEWBERN. 



On the morning of March 12, 1862, the steamers, M-ith the Union 
troops on board, ran as near as they could to the shore, eighteen miles 
from Newbern. The troops landed, and marched through a forest of 
pines in a drenching rain. At daylight they ate a bit of cold beef and 
bread, then took their places in line. General Fosters brigade move on 
the right of the road, the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts leading and taking 
position near the Neuse River. Then came the Twenty-fourth Massachu- 
setts, the left of the regiment reaching to the I'oad. West of the road 
stood the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-third Massachusetts. 

Along this part of the line, on both sides of the road, were })laced some 
boat-howitzers, manned by marines, and a twelve -pounder steel cannon, 
12'^ 



182 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

under Captain Bennett, of tlie gunboat Cossack, wlio had twenty sailors, 
in their bhie jackets, to man the cannon. Captain Drayton, of the gun- 
boat Highlander, had a battery farther to the left. General Parke's bri- 
gade occupied the centre, while General Reno's troops filed from the road, 
crossed the railroad, and came into line to attack the Confederates' right 
wing. 

The Twenty-seventh Massachusetts was the first to open fire. There 
was no rattling fire from skirmishers, but first the howitzers, then the roar 
of the Confederate heavy artillery, and then the volley of the Twenty- 
seventh Massachusetts, with a roll of musketry from a half-dozen Confed- 
erate regiments. 

In a few moments all of General Foster's troops were engaged except 
the Twenty -fifth Massachusetts, which was brought from the extreme 
right back to the road. A fog hung over the marshes, and the smoke of 
the battle drifted down upon Reno's trooi3s, making the air so murky 
that they could see but a few rods. 

" There is a battery," said one of the skirmishers, peering through the 
mist and smoke. lie could see the Confederates getting two thirty-two- 
pounder guns into position. 

There was a deep cut for the railroad through a sand-hill, and the can- 
non were planted to sweep the approach near Mr. "Wood's house and brick- 
yard. There was an engine on the track and a train of cars, from which 
the Confederate soldiers were taking ammunition. 

A company of the Twenty-first Massachusetts moved rapidly forward, 
raised their guns, and fired. There was consternation in the Confederate 
lines. The engineer on the locomotive quickly reversed the engine and 
backed the cars towards Newbern. The soldiers who were taking the am- 
munition from the cars ran behind Mr. Wood's house to a ravine in rear 
of the brick-yard. 

" Plant your colors on that building," said General Reno to Sergeant 
Bates, of the Twenty-first Massachusetts, who ran forward, sprang upon 
the low roof of a house, and waved the colors amid a storm of bullets. 
The regiments rushed forward. 

The first man to fall was Frazer Augustus Stearns, son of the Presi- 
dent of Amherst College, Adjutant of the Twenty-first Massachusetts. He 
was only twenty-one years old, but was very brave and of noble character. 

" Charge !" he shouted ; but the next moment he fell. General Reno 
thought a great deal of him, and the tears rolled down his cheeks when lie 
heard that he was killed. 

It was a brave defence which the Xortli Carolina troops made, but 



THE SPRING OF 18C2. 



183 



the battle was going against them. Their animnnition was failing. The 
gunboats were steaming up the Neuse and sending shells into Fort 
Thompson. 

In front of the Union howitzers the Confederates had a large cannon, 
drawn by four mules. A lieutenant of the navy was out in front watch- 
ing the shot. He came running back swinging his cap. 

"Now's your time. One of the mules is down. Come on ! come on !" 
he shouted. 

In battle men do strange things. The lieutenant had nothing to do 
with the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts; the soldiers were not under him, 
but with a hurrah they went forward. The Twenty-fourth caught the 




ENCAMPMENT OF THE ARMY. 



enthusiasm, and together they rushed on. The Confederates threw away 
their guns and cartridge-boxes, and fled towards Xewbern. 

" Who ordered that charge ?" asked General Barnside. 

" I do not know ; and it makes no difference, now that it is done," said 
General Foster. 

Colonel Estvan had reached the town from Eichmond just before the 
battle closed. He says : " As I approached Newbern the roar of cannon 
became more and more distinct. Suddenly a number of horsemen gal- 
loped past me in full flight, and among them I could discern the gallant 



184 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

colonel witli whom I had dined. lie gave me a hurried nod and passed 
on. Newbern I found looking bad enough. General Branch had secured 
a railway-carriage for himself. Troops without their officers were passing 
me in confusion, throwing away their arms. They all told wonderful 
stories of the feats performed by their respective regiments. According 
to their accounts, they had all fought like so many devils, but the force 
of the enemy not being less than one hundred thousand, they had no 
chance. The fact is, General Branch had run away, and all discipline 
was at an end." 

The Confederates set the long bridge across the Trent on fire. In 
the town all was confusion, the people fleeing panic-stricken from their 
houses. The Confederates set the town on fire, and a great black cloud 
rose heavenward from the burning; buildino-s. 

One of the Union steamers came up, ferried the troops across the river 
into the town, and the soldiers laid aside their guns to put out the flames. 
Out of twelve hundred people not one hundred white people remained. 
The colored people did not flee, but welcomed the troops as their best 
friends. 

The victory was complete, but nearly six hundred Union troops had 
been killed and wounded in the conflict. 

General Parke's brigade embarked on the steamers and sailed back to 
Slocum's Creek, landed, marched to Moorehead City and Beaufort. There 
were no troops to oj^pose them, but the Confederate flag was flying on 
Fort Macon. Colonel White, a nephew of Jefferson Davis, was commander 
of the fort. General Parke sent a summons to him to surrender. It was 
a resolute reply which came back — " He would not yield till he had 
eaten his last biscuit." There were five hundred Confederates in the fort, 
and Colonel White was confident that he could hold it. 

The gunboats came, mortars were landed, and in a few days General 
Parke had eight of them and three thirty-pounder rifled cannon in posi- 
tion to bombard the fort. Colonel White knew that somethino^ was ffoino; 
on behind the sand-hills, and he found out what it was when, at six o'clock 
on the morning of April 25th, the shells began to fall into the fort. Four 
of the gunboats also opened fire, which was so hot and heavy that at four 
o'clock in the afternoon Colonel White ran up a white flag ; and when the 
firing ceased Captain Guion came out and said that they w'ould surrender. 
So the five hundred men who would fight till they had eaten their last 
biscuit gave themselves up. 

By their capture all the harbors north of Wilmington were closed to 
the blockade-runners, and the blockadino; vessels of the Korth Atlantic 



THE SPRING OF 18G2. 185 

could have a harbor of refuge when the stonns came on. A severe blow 
had been struck against the Confederacy. 

There are so many islands in the Mississippi Kiver that the pilots of 
the steamboats have numbered them from Cairo to New Orleans. Island 
No. 10 was about sixty miles below Cairo. It is washed away now, but 
in 1862 it was three-quarters of a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide, 
located in a bend of the river opposite the boundary between Tennessee 
and Kentucky. 

The river runs south, then west, then north-west, and at New Madrid 
turns south again. The banks are low. Behind New Madrid there are 
swamps and bayous. On the Tennessee side there are swamps and a 

large lake. 

When Fort Donelson surrendered, General Polk, who was at Colum- 
bus, saw that he must evacuate the place, for the Union troops could 
march across the country and attack him in the rear. He thought, how- 
ever, that he could fortify Island No. 10, and hold it against the gunboats, 
and shipped the heavy guns to the island. He erected batteries on the 
Tennessee shore, and built two forts at New Madrid, behind the town, to 
prevent the Union troops from coming down the Missouri side. The 
Confederate troops on the island would be under the necessity of receiv- 
ing their supplies from steamboats, as there was no road through the 
swamp on the Tennessee side. 

The officer sent to take command of the troops was General Mackall, 
who, upon his arrival, issued a pompous address. He said : " Soldiers, 
we are strangers. Let me tell you who I am. I am the general selected 
by Beauregard and Bragg for this command when they knew that it was 
in peril. Soldiers, the Mississippi Valley is intrusted to your discipline 
and to your patience. Exhibit the coolness and vigilance you have hith- 
erto, and hold it." 

Besides the cannon in the batteries, he had six steamboats armed with 
cannon. There were between nine and ten thousand men. The swamps 
were so wide, and the water in them so deep on the Tennessee side, that 
General Mackall had no fear of being attacked from that direction. He 
stationed most of his soldiers at New Madrid. 

On February 22, 1862, General Pope, with several thousand men, land- 
ed at Commerce, opposite Cairo, in Missouri. The river was rising, rain 
falling, the mud deep. Very slow and toilsome was the march towards 
New Madrid. The troops could only make five miles a day. 

When General Pope reached New Madrid he found fourteen heavy 



186 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

guns in one fort and seven in tlie other — twenty-one in all — placed to 
sweep all the surrounding country, with a line of breastworks connecting 
the forts, and the trees cut down and made into abatis. 

" The forts are impregnable," writes an officer to the Meynplds Ajp- 
jyeal. "All are hopeful and ready. We will make this an American 
Thermopylae." 

Below New Madrid ten miles, on the Missouri side, is a place called 
Point Pleasant. General Pope quietly sent Colonel Plummer, with three 
regiments and a battery of rifled cannon, through the woods to take pos- 
session of it. The soldiers went to work with their shovels, and in a short 
time threw up strong embankments. The cannon were j^laced in posi- 
tion, and when a Confederate steamboat came along they opened fire upon 
the astonished captain and crew. The roar of the cannon rolled along the 
river. Commodore Hollins, commanding the Confederate gunboats, heard 
it, and hastened down, oj)ened fire, but Plummer's artillerymen compelled 
him to withdraw, and the unpleasant conviction came to General Mackall 
that the river below was being blockaded ; but he determined to hold the 
place. He had a large amount of sujjplies, and would defend it to the last. 

It is energy that wins. At sunset on March 11th four rifled thirty- 
pounder siege-guns reached General Pope. The Confederates looking out 
from the forts saw nothing unusual going on in General Pope's camp. 
They could see the Union soldiers sitting, round their camp-fires — nothing 
more ; but when the twilight faded, Colonel Morgan's brigade marched 
out with picks and spades. General Stanley's division followed. They 
marched up within eight hundred yards of the forts and began their work, 
Colonel Bissell telling them where to dig. All through the night the men 
worked in .silence, for only a quarter of a mile distant the Confederate 
sentinels were pacing their beats. 

"When morning dawned there were breastworks eighteen feet thick 
and five feet high, and a curtain nine hundred feet long, nine feet thick, 
and three feet high connecting them. 

In thirty -four hours from the time the guns arrived at Cairo from 
Pittsburg they had been taken across the Mississippi, loaded on railroad 
cars, taken to Sykestown, twenty miles, dragged through the mud twenty 
miles, and placed in position. This work was done so quietly that the 
Confederate pickets heard nothing. They thought it a rifle-pit in the 
dim light, and opened fire, but were astonished when a shell from a thirty- 
two-pounder cannon exploded above them. 

It was a foggy morning ; the air was still, and the deep thunder rolled 
far away. It woke up the slumbering Confederates. The fog lifted, and 



THE SPRING OF 1862. 



189 



all the guns of the fleet and boats began to play. All through the day 
the uproar went on. Just at night General Fame's division advanced 
towards the lower fort, but a thunder-storm and hurricane came on, and 
the troops waited till it should pass. 

Through the following night the rain pelted them. Morning dawned, 
but no enemy was to be seen. A citizen of the town came towards them 



Army of Gfenl.Pope 

_Aii ^4 AA 6.-4 A AA & A ^ 
AAA'^A/Ji^Ayi,^AiVi4 



MADRia 



(Mo.) 




MAP OP ISLiVND KG. 10. 

with a white flag, informing them that during the night General Mackall, 
who was going to make New Madrid a Thermopyte, had marched his 
troops upon the steamboats and taken them to the Tennessee shore, 
spiking the guns. 

The soldiers rushed into the deserted works. Before night the spikes 
were removed from the guns, and the heavy cannon placed upon the bank 
of the river. 

The gunboats which were so badly injured at Fort Donelson had been 



190 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

repaired, and on tliat morning were steaming down the river from Cairo 
to bombard Island No. 10. 

I was on tlie gunboat Benton with Commodore Foote. We came to 
anchor above the island. A man on the Missouri shore was making a 
signal. It M'as a messenger from General Pope with this despatch: "I 
have possession of JSTew Madrid. The river is closed; no escape for the 
enemy by water." 

Commodore Foote had seven gunboats and ten thirteen-inch mortars on 
boats built like rafts, with thick timbers laid crosswise and bolted together. 

To fire a mortar accurately requires a good knowledge of mathematics 
— the relations of curves to straight lines ; for the shell is fired into the 
air at an angle of thirty or forty degrees, and the gunner must calculate 
the distance from the mortar to the. object he wishes to destroy. He must 
calculate the time it will take for the shell to pass to its highest elevation ; 
it must burst at the right moment. Captain Maynadier had command of 
the mortar - boats. I went with him out through a cornfield, across a 
point of land, to a farm-house. We climbed upon its roof, and had a clear 
view of the Confederate fortifications. It was an easy matter for us, by 
using a compass and by sighting the mortar-boats in one direction and the 
batteries on Island No. 10, to calculate how far a\vay they were, and at 
what angle the shells ought to be fired. It was very interesting to sit 
there and see the flash of the mortar and the great cloud of smoke, and 
then to watch the shell sailing high above us, making a beautiful parabolic 
curve, bursting above the enemy, sending its fragments in every direction. 
It was all very interesting till we heard something coming towards us, 
and a solid shot tore through the house beneath us. The Confederates 
had discovered us, and the shot and shells came so thick and fast that it 
was far more interesting to be somewhere else. 

The Southern people were confident that the island could not be 
taken. The Memphis Argus said : "■ For the enemy to get possession of 
Memphis and the Mississippi Valley would require an army of greater 
strength than Secretary Stanton can concentrate. Tlie gunboats in wdiich 
they have so much confidence have found their weakness. They cannot 
stand our guns of heavy calibre. Foote, the commander of the Federal 
fleet, served his time under Commander IloUins, and should he attempt 
to descend the river Ilollins will teach him a lesson." 

It is a beautiful morning. The gunboats are ready. They float slow- 
ly witli the current till they are wkhin easy cannon-shot, and anchor 
with their bows down stream, so that they can use their heavy rifled 
guns. 



THE SPRING OF 1862. 193 

The mortars open fire, ten of them sending shells into the air. The 
gunboats open their bow-ports and run out the cannon. You have seen 
battle-pictures by great painters, but no painter can portray the grandeur 
of the scene — the gunboats and mortars enveloped in flame and smoke; 
the unfolding clouds slowly floating away ; handfuls of white cloud sud- 
denly bursting out high in air, or great cohimns of water thrown up from 
the eddying stream. A round shot skips along the water and pierces 
the embankment ; another crashes through a tree, cutting it down in 
a twinkling. The air is filled with sulphurous clouds, broken timbers, 
branches of trees. There are deep explosions, a lifting of cart-loads of 
earth into the air. There are answering shots. A thirty- pound ball 
strikes the upper deck of the Benton^ tears up the ii'on plates, breaks the 
stout timbers, crushing them to kindlings, falls upon the lower deck, 
bounds once more against the timbers above, and drops into Commodore 
Footers writing-desk. 

In the thick of the bombardment a gun on the St. Louis bursts, killing 
two men and wounding thirteen. 

The gunboats stop their firing at sunset, but all night long the mortars 
hurl their shells upon the island. 

" If I had a steamboat, and if you could send down a gunboat, I would 
cross the river from New Madrid and take them in the rear." 

Such Avas the message which General Pope sent to Commodore Foote. 

A bright thought came to Carlton Ela, one of the soldiers of Com- 
pany F, Tenth Iowa, as he paced his beat on the picket-line. lie saw the 
bayou — that it was once the bed of the Mississippi ; that if the drift-wood 
and other obstructions were cleared out, steamboats could be brought be- 
low the batteries. It so impressed him that he mentioned it to General 
Hamilton, who commanded the division. 

The water was overflowing the banks of the river, filling all the 
bayous. He saw that if a canal were cut through a ridge of land for a 
short distance, and if the trees were cut from a bayou, a steamboat might 
leave the river above the gunboats and be taken across to New Madrid.* 
Commodore Foote found that Island No. 10 was so strongly fortified that 
he could not take it. lie could only carry on the fight with his bow- 
guns and mortars, and the mortars were not doing much damage. 

Engineers examined the bayous to see if the canal could be cut, and 
reported that they could accomplish it. Soldiers went to work once more 
with shovels. There were great trees that must be sawed off four feet 
under water. They rigged a sa wing-machine on a flat-boat, with an engine 
to drive it. So well did it work that more than one thousand trees were 
13 



194 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NxVTION. 

cut down and removed. Some of the trees were sawn by hand, the men 
standing up to tlieir necks in tlie water. 

For nineteen days tlie work went on, General Mackall having no sus- 
picion of what was being done. Every day the mortar-boats tossed shells 
upon the island, to make the Confederates think that the bombardment 
had not been given up. 

" I think that we can cajDture the upper battery," said Commodore 
Foote. 

It Avas on the Tennessee shore. ISTight came, April 1st. Black clouds 
are rising in the west. The wind blows a gale, swaying the tall trees. 
There are vivid lightning Hashes. "While the storm is wildest, live boats 
filled with men silently push out from the shore and drift with the cur- 
rent. The oars have been muffled ; no word is spoken. In the boats are 
one hundred resolute men ; each knows just what he is to do. 

Onward they sweep, the rowers bending to their oars, gliding now as 
swiftly as a race-horse. Colonel Roberts of the army is commander. Two 
Confederate sentinels are standing in the battery, keeping watch amid 
the storm. Suddenly they behold by the lightning flash a fleet of boats 
sweeping up to the shore. Their guns flash. A few rods away a regiment 
is sleeping. 

" Lay in, quick !" shouts Colonel Tioberts. 

A stroke, and the prows of the boats run upon the sliore. Up the 
bank leap the soldiers, running to the cannon with files of hardened steel, 
which they drive into the vents. A moment's work, and every cannon in 
the battery is spiked. There is a commotion in the Confederate camp — 
officers sliouting, soldiers, waking in fright, leaping to their feet. Colonel 
Koberts examines each gun. 

"All aboard! Push off!'' he shouts. He is the last to leap in. A 
few strokes, and they are beyond nmsket-shot. Six guns have been ren- 
dered useless. 

All is ready — the canal complete, the water flowing through, and four 
boats making their way towards New Madrid. 

It is midnight, April 3d, a dark and stormy night. The Carondelet is 
ready to run past Island No. 10. She has a barge loaded with bales of 
liay alongside. The engineer has screwed down the valves of the boilers, 
and the pent-up steam is struggling to escape. 

"Cast off!" Captain Walke, commanding the Carondelet^ issues the 
order, and the gunboat floats out into the stream. 

Although the night is stormy, the Confederate sentinels are on the 
watch, and give the alarm. The soot in the chimney of the Carondelet 



THE SPRING OF 1862. I95 

takes fire, and a lurid flame spouts high in air, leaving a long trail of 
sparks behind. There are sudden flashes from the batteries on the island 
but swiftly the Carondelet sweeps past them. If she reaches Xew Madrid 
in safety Captain Walke is to fire three signal-guns. 

I stand upon the bank in the darkness, waiting to hear them. The up- 
roar at the island dies away. A minute seems an^hour. At last they come 
—three peals of thunder rolling np the valley. The soldiers sprino- to 
their feet and swing their caps. ^ 

" Three cheers for Commodore Foote !" 
" Three more for Captain Walke !" 
" Three for the crew !" 
The Carondelet has not been struck. 

]S"ight comes again, and the Pittsburg runs the gantlet. Four steam- 
boats are through the canal. 

Down the river steamed the two gunboats, pouring their broadsides 
upon a Confederate battery, and putting the soldiers to flight. In the 
darkness of the night General Pope moves his troops across the river to 
the Tennessee shore. They are in rear of Island No. 10. 

The Confederate troops flee from the tents, throwing away their guns, 
knapsacks, clothing, plunging into the swamp. 

In the early morning the troops under General Pope push on, coming 
suddenly upon the fugitives, capturing General Mackall, nearly seven thou- 
sand prisoners, and one hundred and twenty-three cannon, seven thousand 
muskets, an immense amount of ammunition and camp equipage. 

The victory was almost bloodless. During the bombardment of the 
island and of the forts at New Madrid few had been killed or wounded. 

By this victory, and by the victory gained in the battle of Pea Eidge, 
near south-western Missouri, the last of the Confederate troops were swept 
from that State. The love for the old flag, the determination to stand by 
the Union, became, as in Kentucky, a deep and abiding force, makino- it 
one of the truly loyal States of the Union. ° 



196 



DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 

T^'^HERE was consternation in Richmond over affairs in the West. Iin- 
-*- mediately after the battle of Mill Springs General Beauregard had 
hastened to Tennessee, to aid General Albert Sidney Johnston. The people 
gatiiered at the railroad stations to see the man who was regarded as the 
hero of Sumter and Manassas. At Nashville he was presented to the Leg- 
islature, and received a hearty welcome. On the 4th of February, the day 
before the attack on Fort Henry by Commodore Foote, he reached Bowl- 
ing Green, in Kentucky, and had a conference with Johnston. He was at 
Nashville when the astounding news came that Fort Donelson had sur- 
rendered. He saw that a new army must 
be created, the Confederate forces con- 
centrated ; that the army under General 
Grant, with the gunboats, could make its 
way up the Tennessee River to northern 
Alabama, and that Corinth, the junction 
of the railroad running from Columbus, 
in Kentucky, to Mobile and New Orleans, 
with the road running east from Mem- 
phis to Chattanooga, was the best place 
for the gathering of the new army. "While 
General Johnston did what he could to re- 
cruit the disheartened troops at Murfrees- 
boro, Beauregard began the concentration of troops at Corinth. Regi- 
ments came from General Lovell, in command at New Orleans. General 
Bragg came with his brigade from Mobile. Steamers were sent up the 
Arkansas River to bring down the troops under Yan Horn. Governor 
Harris, of Tennessee, ordered out the troops of that State, and aroused 
the enthusiasm of the people to such a pitch that in a few days the new 
army, including the troops from Bowling Green, which had been taken 
to Corinth in the cars, numbered between forty and fifty thousand. Beau- 




MAP OF THE SHILOH CAMPAIGN. 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 



197 



regard asked the people to contribute tlieir plantation bells, to be recast 
into cannon. The women in their enthusiasm gave their brass fire-dogs 
and candlesticks. It is not probable that the recast bells sent out their 
tones from the brazen lips of the cannon on the field of Sliiloh, but the 
readiness of the people in responding shows that they were very much 
in earnest. 




THE BATTLE OP SHILOII. 



Up to the taking of Donelson, General McClellan had been commander 
of all the Union armies, but President Lincoln appointed General Henry 
W. Ilalleck to command the troops west of the Alleghanies. General 
Halleck was educated at West Point. When the war began he was a law- 
yer in San Francisco. Soldiers delight to call their commanders by pet 
names. The Army of the Potomac called General McClellan "Little 
Mac." Later in the war they called General Thomas " Papa,'' because he 



198 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



was careful to see that they were fed and clothed. They called General 
Halleck " Old Brains." He directed the army which had captured Donel- 
son to .go up the Tennessee River to Savannah, and ordered General Buell 
to march from ]S"ashville to the same point. The steamboat Golden Gate, 
with the Fortieth Regiment of Illinois, was the first to reach Savannah, 
and was followed by a great fleet of steamboats loaded with troops. Ten 
miles above Savannah, on the west bank of the Tennessee, was a log-house, 
with a clearing and a road winding up the bank. Down by the river the 




ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 



willow-trees bend their branches into the stream, but as we go up the bank 
M'e come to tall oaks and gum-trees, and an undergrowth of cliincopins 
and hazels. Going out a little more than two miles, we come to a log 
meeting-house. A spring bubbles up near by, where the people who 
attend church eat their luncheon and drink the clear running water. 
They call it Shiioli church. People who tliink highly of General Albert 
Sidney Johnston as a commander say that he picked out in advance this 
little log building as the spot where a great battle would be fought. So 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 199 

historians have said tliat Wellington picked out the field of Waterloo as a 
place where he intended to defeat Napoleon. It is probable that there is 
not much truth in either of the stories. It takes two parties to bring on 
a battle, and a general cannot very well decide just where it shall be 
fought. When the Confederates began to concentrate at Corinth, it was 
plain that the Union army would be likely to move in tliat direction. 
General Johnston was for selecting a place farther South, along the ILitchie 
River, but Beauregard began to assendjle the troops at Corinth, which is 
twenty miles from the Shiloh meetingdiouse. He sent a battery down to 
Pittsburg Landing, which opened fire on one of the gunboats. In turn 
the gunboat sent its shells crashing through the willows and oaks, com- 
pelling the Confederates to fall back into the woods. It was the firing 
of that Confederate field-piece which attracted the attention of General 
Sherman to the spot as a suitable one for the Union army to occupy. He 
had been up to Eastport, and had tried to reach the railroad at luka, but 
the river was overflowing its banks, and he had to abandon the attempt. 
He went ashore at Pittsburg Landing and examined the ground. He 
saw that Snake Creek came in from the west just below the landing, and 
Lick Creek just above it. Five miles below was Crump's Landing. The 
ground was a broken plateau, mostly covered with trees, with clearings 
here and there. He pitched his tents around the church. The other 
divisions of the army arrived and went into camp between the church and 
the river. 

General Buell was marching slowly from Nashville towards Pittsburg 
Landing. The Confederates had burned the bridge over Duck Creek, and 
the stream was swollen by the rains. He set about rebuilding the bridge. 
The river was falling. General Nelson, commanding one of the divisions 
of the army, was impatient to get on, and directed the soldiers to put their 
cartridge-boxes on their baj'onets, hold them above their heads, and ford 
the river. His troops crossed, and thus were in the advance. We shall 
see what came of it. The troops under Buell numbered thirty-seven thou- 
sand, while those already at Pittsl)urg Landing numbered about thirty- 
eight thousand. United, the army would number seventy-five thousand. 
General ITalleck was coming from St. Louis to take command. 

General Johnston, at Corinth, knew that the army under Buell was on 
its way, and his scouts informed him that it would reach Pittsburg Land- 
ing by the 6th of April. What should he do ? He had between forty and 
fifty thousand men ; he expected General Van Dorn with twenty thousand 
more. Should he wait at Corinth and let the united Union armies attack 
him. or should he march at once from Corinth to Shiloh and attack Grant 



200 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATIOX. 

before BuelFs arrival ? With his superior force, by surprising Grant he 
might completely crush him ; for he was between two creeks, with a deep 
liver behind him, and no means of escape. It was the unanimous opin- 
ion of the Confederate generals that Grant should be attacked. Johnston 
hoped to be ready to move on April 1st, but was not. It was ten o'clock 
on the evening of the 2d when a messenger from General Cheatham, who 
was north of Corinth, came to Beauregard with the information that the 
Union army was divided, that one division was north of Snake Creek. 
'' Now is the time to strike," said Beauregard. Johnston hesitated ; said 
that the army was not ready. His adjutant, General Jordan, was earnest 
for the movement, and finally persuaded liim to issue the order. The 
troops were to take three days' cooked rations in their haversacks, and 
three days' uncooked in wagons. 

Drums were beating the next morning at Corinth. The Third Corps, 
under General Hardee, filed out from its camp and took the lead. Gen- 
eral Hardee was from South Carolina; ho had been educated at West 
Point. The Second Corps followed, under General Braxton Bragg, l^orn 
in North Carolina and educated at West, Point. He was in the battle of 
Buena Yista, in Mexico, and commanded a battery which did excellent 
service. When the war began, in 1861, he was a planter in Louisiana, 
raising cotton and sugar-cane. He was brave and energetic, but had such 
a temper that his officers did not always find it easy to get on with liim. 
The First Corps, under General Polk, came next, followed by the reserves, 
under General Breckinridge. There had been heavy rains, and the roads 
were deep with mire. It was Thursday morning. Johnston expected to 
be ready to strike the blow on Saturday morning, but it rained on Friday, 
and when the sun went down at night the army was not in position to 
fall upon the unsuspecting Union troops. 

One division of the Union army, commanded by Lew. Wallace, is north 
of Snake Creek, to protect the provisions at Crump's Landing ; one brigade 
down by the river, one two miles out, and the third one mile beyond, tow- 
ards the town of Purdy. General Wallace has constructed a bridge across 
Snake Creek, north of Shiloh church. Starting at Pittsburg Landing, 
we can turn to the right, cross the creek, on the road leading to Crump's, 
or we can go on towards the church and turn north, and cross the new 
bridge, and so reach the position occupied by Wallace's second brigade. 
It is between nine and ten miles by either road. Two brigades of Gen- 
eral Sherman's division are arouild the church. General McClernand's is 
in Sherman's rear about half a mile ; General Prentiss's is three-quarters 
of a mile south-east of Sherman ; General Ilurlbut's and General W. IL L. 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 



201 




\k 



^^^ 



y^y^A 



6'^:i;<^-^^=5^^^.^-^^S:S;'i:i%jj«;!*^^,5;>^5<'^ 



^.<ga;agv^ga-ga^a-T^;;g#; 



^ 



GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN. 



AVallace's divisions are towards the landing. Stuart's brigade, of Sher- 
man's division, is east of Prentiss, guarding tlie ford over Lick Creek. 
Sherman, Prentiss, and Stuart form the front line. It is just about three 
miles from where Stuart stood to Owl Creek. This is the only place 
where the Confederates can strike their contemplated blow, for the water 
is high in the Tennessee, and has flowed back into the creeks, so that the 
attack, if made, must be directly in front, and not by any flank movement. 
To be successful, the attack must be a surprise. 



202 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



General Grant knew that a large Confederate armj had gathered at 
Corinth, but he did not expect that Johnston and Beauregard were about 
to fall upon him. The success at Donelson had made the Union army 
over-confident ; officers and soldiers alike had unbounded faith in them- 
selves. Precautions which were taken later in the war — the throwing up 
of breastworks — were not thought of at Pittsburg Landing. The army 




SUILOU CHUKCH. 



was getting ready to move to Corinth, and was not expecting to be at- 
tacked by the Confederates. The divisions were not stationed with any 
reference to a battle line. There was no forethought of battle. The 
headquarters of General Grant was at Savannah. The immunity from 
attack on either flank had somewhat to do with the feeling of security 
which pervaded the army, from the generals to the men in the ranks. 
General Grant had very little cavalry, and his information in regard to 
the Confederates had to be obtained mostly through spies and infantry 
scouts. His picket lines were not as far out as they might have been. 
On Thursday and Friday General Buckland went out with a brigade five 
miles to the farm of Mr. Michey, when suddenly the Confederate cavalry 
swooped down upon his videttes and captured a lieutenant and seven men. 
Buckland did not like that, and puslied out two miles farther, where he 
found himself confronted by cavalry and artillery. Pie did not know that 



THE BATTLE OF SllILOH. 



203 



he liad encountered Cleburne's brigade, of Hardee's corps, advancing from 
Corinth. In the skirmish Major Crockett of Buckland's command was 
killed, but ten Confederates were captured. On Saturday morning Cap- 
tain Mason, of the Seventy-seventh Ohio, saw squirrels and rablu'ts com- 
ing through the woods from the south-west, as if suddenly startled from 
their haunts. He had a suspicion that somethings was going on bevond 
the picket line, and reported to General Sherman, who sent out several 
companies to strengthen the pickets. 




LEW. WALLACE. 



General Lew. Wallace had two scouts whom he relied upon for infor- 
mation. One of them Avas Mr. Carpenter, who obtained his information 
from the negroes on the farms in the vicinity, who were, in turn, in com- 
munication with the negroes in the Confederate army — the servants who 
waited upon the Confederate officers, and who were doing work in the 



204 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

camp. He instructed them to keep tlieir ears and eyes wide open to hear 
all that was said by the Confederate officers at dinner, or in consultation 
over maps, and to make a note of what was going on. The Confederate 
officers little knew that the slaves, brushing their clothes, blacking their 
boots, or waiting upon them at the mess table, were listening intently to 
their conversation, and that a few hours later it would be reported to a 
l^nion officer. Mr. Carpenter did not accept all that the negroes reported, 
but by comparing the different accounts was able to arrive at the probable 
truth. General Wallace's other scout was a very shrewd man, who was 
in the pay not only of General Wallace but of General Johnston, Gen- 
eral Wallace accepted his reports as truthful because they were corrobo- 
rated by the accounts brought by the negroes. At two o'clock on Satur- 
day afternoon the scout Carpenter came in through the picket line and 
reported to General Wallace that the whole Confederate army was ad- 
vancing. Two hours later the other scout came in with the same infor- 
mation, which was sent to General Grant. In many of the first accounts 
of the battle of Shiloh it is represented that the army under General 
Grant was taken completely by surprise-, but it is now known that the 
division commanders understood that the Confederates were not far away. 
General Grant knew that a large body of the enemy was in front of him. 
lie was most apprehensive for the safety of Crump's Landing, where 
nearly all of his supplies were stored. He feared that a rapid dash might 
be made upon Lew. Wallace, and the supplies destroyed before the main 
body of the army could be brought to Wallace's assistance. He expected 
that some sort of a movement would be made by the Confederates. He 
remained at Savannah to meet Buell, whom he was hourly expecting. 
While General Grant was riding towards the front on Friday he was se- 
verely injured by his horse falling, and for two or three days was unable 
to walk except with crutches. On Saturday, April 5th, General Nelson's 
division of Buell's army, which had forded Duck Creek, arrived at Savan- 
nah. General Grant ordered him to move up the east bank of the river 
to a position where he could be ferried over to Crump's Landing or to 
Pittsburg, as he might be needed. General Buell arrived at Savannah on 
the same evening, but did not inform General Grant, who did not learn 
of his arrival until after the battle had begun on Sunday morning. All 
through Saturday there was skirmishing between the Union and the Con- 
federate pickets. Although the signs were multiplying that the Confed- 
erates were advancing, there was no preparation for a great battle on the 
part of General Grant or his division commanders, but at the same time 
there was a growing apprehension that something might happen.' 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 205 

General Prentiss sends Colonel Moore on Satnrday with three compa- 
nies of the Twenty-first Missouri to reconnoitre. They march obliquely 
past General Sherman's position towards the west three miles. They see 
notliing of the enemy. If they had marched south-west two miles they 
would have come plump upon General Hardee's line. 

Through Saturday General Lew. Wallace's men, north of Snake Creek, 
are under arms, for the pickets out on the Purdy road discover a large 
force of Confederates. Wallace does not know that it is General Cheat- 
ham moving south to get into position. General Sherman knows that the 
Confederates are in front of him, but he does not expect to be attacked. 
He writes a note Saturday evening to General Grant : " Probably noth- 
ing will occur to-day more than picket firing. The enemy is saucy, but 
got the worst of it yesterday, and will not press our pickets." 

General Grant sent this to General Halleck by telegraph Saturday af- 
ternoon : " I have scarcely the faintest jdea of an attack (general one) 
being made upon us, but will be prepared should such a thing take place." 

Walking now beyond the Union pickets, let us see the Confederate 
troops. They have no tents. It has been a weary march. They lie down 
upon the cold, damp ground, knowing that at daylight they are to strike a 
blow which they believe will drive the Union troops into the river. 

The front line is composed of Hardee's corps, with Gladdin's brigade 
on the right. The artillery is in front, with the infantry behind. Bragg's 
corps is next in line. Eight hundred yards in rear of Bragg's is General 
Polk. Behind all is Breckinridge with the reserve. In each line there 
are from ten to twelve thousand men. 

No loud talking is allowed, no drums beat the tattoo, no bugle sounds 
out its blast. 

It is ten o'clock Saturday evening. The night is clear. In rear of 
the lines one dim fire burns. Around it stand the Confederate generals, 
w^ho have come to receive their last orders. Beauregard is talking. He is 
restless, nervous, throws aside his cloak, walks here and there because he 
cannot keep still. General Breckinridge is lying upon the ground, wrapped 
in his blanket, pale and thoughtful. A few months ago he was Vice-presi- 
dent of the United States. In July he was expelled from the United 
States Senate, has turned his back upon the Nation and upon his State 
to join the Confederacy. To-morrow he will be iu the thick of the fight. 
Polk, no longer a preacher, but a major-general, sits upon a camp-stool, 
leaning forward, his elbows upon his knees. He is silent and motionless. 
General Bragg is wide awake. He speaks with energy as to how tlie 
attack should be conducted. General Albert Sidney Johnston, command- 



200 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

er-in-cliief, stands apart from tlie rest. He is tall, his shoulders are broad, 
his hair tinged with gray. His face is pale ; the wrinkles are coming in 
his cheeks. Pie has felt deep chagrin over his forced evacuation of Bowl- 
ing Green and the disaster at Donelson and Nashville. To-morrow he 
will retrieve all. 

''Hammer them, gentlemen — hammer them," he says. He has but 
one plan — to hurl his troops upon Prentiss's and Sherman's divisions, 
drive them back upon McClernand, Hurlbut, and W. H. L. Wallace, and 
sweep all into the river, or compel their surrender before Buell arrives. 

It is not Johnston but Beauregard who says, " Gentlemen, we sleep 
in the enemy's camp to-morrow night." All are confident of success, for 
spies have been through the Union lines, and have reported the exact sit- 
uation of the Union troops. 

General Beauregard is second in command, but he is regarded as a hero 
and a great general by the Confederate soldiers. 

" If you were to ride in front of my lines," says General Hardee, "and 
show yourself to the men, it will greatly encourage them." 

'' The men must not cheer me, for we are so near that the enemy will 
hear them," Beauregard replies. 

Officers ride in advance and inform the men that Beauregard is com- 
ing, but that they must not cheer. He rides along the entire line. The 
men behold him with admiration. 

It is fourteen minutes past five Sunday morning. General Johnston is 
eating his breakfast. Suddenly there is a rattling fire of muskets. It is 
not the Confederate troops advancing, but three companies of Union troops 
of the Twenty-fifth Missouri, under Colonel Moore, sent out by General 
Prentiss on a reconnaissance. They started at half-past three, and have 
come upon Hardee's pickets — the Third Mississippi — under Major Hard- 
castle. So the battle was not begun by the advance of the Confederates, 
but by General Prentiss's troops, only that the Union troojis did not dream 
that they were opening one of the most terrible conflicts of the war. 

For an hour the firing goes on between the three companies and the 
Confederates. Major Hardcastle says, " We fought the enemy an hour 
or more without gaining an inch. At about 6.30 a.m. I saw a brigade 
formed in my rear and I fell back." 

I write these facts because some writers have said that the Union army 
was completely surprised, which is not true. The soldiers were not asleep 
in their tents, but eating their breakfasts, when the three companies of the 
Twenty-fifth Missouri encountered the Confederate pickets. 

General Buckland, of Sherman's division, is awake early, for he is to 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 207 

go out on a reconnaissance. He is eating breakfast when the rattle of 
musketry falls upon his ear. 

" Beat the long-roll," he shouts to the drummer, and in a moment his 
brigade is in line. He leaps into his saddle, gallops to General Sherman's 
headquarters, and informs him that the Confederates are advancing in force. 

In a few moments all of Sherman's brigades are in line. He has three 
batteries — Waterhouse's, Taylor's, and Belir's. Sherman rides to the front 
and sees the Confederate troops advancing upon his left east of the church. 

" Support my left," is his word to McClernand. 

" The enemy is upon you in force," is his message to Prentiss. No 
need of sending that, for Prentiss has discovered it. 

'* Support Prentiss," is the word to Hurlbut, in rear of Prentiss. 

While Sherman is at the front, along the edge of a ravine, by the Fif- 
ty-third Ohio, General Albert Sidney Johnston is on the other side of the 
ravine, putting Thomas's Confederate brigade in position, and Thomas's 
skirmishers kill Sherman's orderly. Johnston places "Wood's brigade, and 
then brings Cleburne's brigade up in front of Buckland. 

The Fifty-third Ohio pours two volleys into Wood's brigade, which 
holds it in check ; but the colonel commanding the Fifty-third loses his 
self-control and orders the regiment to fall back. It is a sad mistake. At 
eight o'clock, all along the line in front of Sherman and Prentiss the can- 
non are thundering. 

On the Confederate side. General Anderson's brigade, with Hodgson's 
battery of the Washington Artillery, comes up from Johnston's second 
line, to fill a gap between Hindman and Cleburne, but Taylor's battery 
and the Fifty-seventh and Seventy-fifth Ohio confront Anderson. 

Cleburne, who holds the extreme left of Hardee's line south-west of 
the church, comes with six regiments and two batteries to attack Buck- 
land, who has posted his men along the edge of a ravine. The ravine is 
boggy, and when Cleburne attempts to cross it his troops sink into the 
mire and suffer great loss. The Sixth Mississippi comes into the battle 
with four hundred and twenty-five men, but in a short time three hundred 
are killed or wounded. Cleburne loses one-third of his men. 

General Johnston, with twelve Confederate regiments of Bragg's corps 
and two batteries, fell upon Prentiss's flanks. Prentiss's men were fight- 
ing their first battle ; they held their ground a while, but broke at last and 
fled from their camp. The Confederates ran to the tents to secure plun- 
der, seizing knapsacks, blankets, and finishing the breakfasts which they 
had captured. They danced and sang. They had captured three hundred 
prisoners, and thought the victory won. 



208 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Sherman tried to hold his position b}' the churcli. The battle was rag- 
ing fearfully along his lines east of the church. IHs horse was shot, and 
he mounted another; that was killed, and he took a third. His clothes 
were riddled with bullets. He encouraged his men, but the giving way of 
Prentiss had exposed his left flank, and he must fall back. He held his 
ground till ten o'clock, and then retreated, leaving his camp in the hands 
of the Confederates. Other Confederates were forming a line half a mile 
in his rear towards Pittsburg Landing. 

The drivers and gunners of Behr's battery became frightened, and 
rode off with the caissons, leaving five cannon to fall into the hands of the 
Confederates. 

General Grant was eating breakfast at Savannah when the thunder of 
the cannonade reached him. He wrote a note to General Bnell and went 
on board a steamboat, which moved rapidly up the river to Crump's Land- 
ing. General Wallace was there on a stetmiboat. Before Grant's arrival, 
Wallace, hearing the cannonade, and comprehending its meaning, had sent 
orders to his brigade commanders, to the one farthest out to fall back to the 
position of the second, to send all its camp equipage to Crump's Landing. 
It was half-past eight when General Grant's boat came alongside the steam- 
er which General Wallace was using as his headquarters. " Be ready," 
said General Grant. " I am ready," was the reply. General Grant, not 
stopping, went on to Pittsburg Landing, arriving there a little past nine 
o'clock. 

In a battle there comes a tiine when the assailing party begins to 
lose its aggressive force. That hour has come to the Confederate army. 
The soldiers have made a wearisome march from Corinth. They slept 
little on Saturday night. They have eaten nothing since early morn- 
ing. They have been under the strain of battle, and have suffered heavy 
losses. Many officers have been killed or wounded. Thousands of faint- 
hearted men have drifted to the rear. Others think that the victory is 
already won. 

Looking now at the Union line, we see it at two o'clock more compact 
than at any time during the morning. The line is much shorter. It, 
too, has suffered great losses. Down by the landing are thousands of 
fainthearted men, who would gladly cross the river if they could, and 
leave their comrades to finish the fight. Some are swimming Lick 
Creek and fleeing to Crump's Landing. But there are brave men in 
the lines who have no thought of yielding anothef inch, and every time 
the Confederates advance they drive them back. General Bragg says: 
"Hindman's command was gallantly led to the attack, but recoiled under 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 209 

a murderous fire. The noble and gallant leader fell severely wounded. 
The command returned to its work, bnt was nnequal to the heavy task. 1 
• brought np Gibson's brigade, and threw them forward to attack the same 
point. A heavy fire soon opened, and after a short conflict this command 
fell back in considerable disorder, llallying the different regiments by 
my staff-ofticers and escort, they were twice more moved to the attack, 
only to be driven back." 

It was W. H. L. Wallace's division which withstood all these assaults. 

It is half-past two. General Johnston is directing the movements of 
Breckinridge's troops down by Lick Creek, when a shell explodes above 
him, and a jagged piece of iron strikes his thigh, severing an artery. He 
grows faint, and reels in his saddle. Governor Harris, of Tennessee, lavs 
him upon the ground, moistens his lips with brandy, but in a few minutes 
he ceases to breathe. The Confederate army has lost its commander, who, 
smarting under the disaster at Donelson and Xashville, determined to win 
a great victory. 

An officer informs Beauregard of Johnston's death. 

" Do not let the army know it. The battle mny as well go on,'' he 
says. 

Nearly at the same moment General W. II. L. Wallace, who has rolled 
back the Confederates, falls mortally wounded. It is a sad loss to the 
Union army. He has been cool and brave, and encouraged his men — in- 
spired them with his own lofty valor. His troops give way. It exposes 
Prentiss's division. The Confederates gradually gain the rear of Prentiss, 
Avho is finally surrounded and obliged to surrender, with two thousand five 
hundred of his men. 

A great shout goes up. Once more the Confederates take heart. 

From morning till four- o'clock in the afternoon the battle rai>-ed, the 
Confederates forcing the Union troops back nearly two miles, but were 
unable to drive them any farther for several reasons. 

In a battle lasting many hours there comes a time when the troops 
break down through exhaustion. " This is hard pounding, bnt we will see 
which can stand it longest," said Wellington at Waterloo. "We shall 
hold them jet," said Grant to his chief of staff. General Webster, at five 
o'clock. He was taking note of the situation of affairs — the concentration 
of his troops, the line being hardly a mile in length, its position along the 
northern bank of Dill's ravine. In every army there are two classes of 
men : those who grow fainthearted, and who lose heart under disaster, those 
whose determination and courage rise nnder disaster. At five o'clock 
on that Sunday afternoon the troops standing along the bank of that ra- 
14 



210 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

vine are of the class who have no tliought of final defeat. Whatever the 
outcome of the battle may be, they are there to fight. General Grant had 
lost at this hour between six and seven thousand ; there was a great crowd 
of faint-hearted fugitives cowering along the river bank. Probably there 
are not more than ten thousand men in line, but Lew. Wallace is not far 
away with six thousand fresh troops. During the afternoon General Web- 
ster has been preparing a line of defence along DilTs ravine, which ex- 
tends from the river nearly one mile towards the north-west. Bundles of 
liay, pork-barrels, boxes, anything that can be used, are placed along the 
northern bank. Men go to work with spades, and in a short time have a 
formidable breastwork. General Webster places all the cannon in posi- 
tion, between twenty and thirty in number. 

The artillerymen who have lost their guns are eager to work the heavy 
cannon ranged along the ravine. Going up the road leading to Crump's 
Landing we see Sherman covering it with his two brigades. At his left 
are McClernand and Hurlbut's divisions, reaching down to the heavy 
mins. The shattered divisions of W. 11. L. Wallace and Prentiss are in 
rear. 

On the Confederate side Jackson's, Chalmers's, Gladden's, and Gibson's 
brigades are getting ready to make the last attack, which it is expected 
will drive Grant into the river, or compel his surrender. General Beau- 
regard has not comprehended all the points of the situation, neither has 
any Confederate corps commander. Success thus far has crowned their 
efforts. They have driven the Union troops almost to the landing. One 
more attack and the victory will be complete ; but the troops at this 
moment are nearly as much disorganized as the Union regiments. Many 
of them have left the ranks to secure the plunder in the captured camps. 
Others, weary with the march from Corinth, having wasted their ra- 
tions, are searching for something to eat. At this sunset hour the enthu- 
siasm and courage of the morning, through weariness and exhaustion, are 
wanting. 

We saw the men of Nelson's division of Buell's army crossing Duck 
Creek with their knapsacks on their bayonets. They did not know what 
would come of it, but here they are being fen-ied across the Tennessee by 
the steamboats forming at the landing. They see the thousands of fugi- 
tives cowering under the bank. The Confederate cannon-shot and shells 
are whirring through the trees. Right above them the heavy guns, under 
General Webster, are thundering. The roll of musketry is like the cres- 
cendo of an orchestra as Ammen's brigade winds up the bank and comes 
into position between the heavy guns and the river, and pours its volleys 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 211 

down upon the Confederates in Dill's ravine. At the same moment there 
comes a roar from the great guns on the gunboats Lexington and Tyler, 
which send their shells up the ravine. 

General Bragg, commanding the troops south of the ravine, directs 
Jackson and Chalmers and Gibson to charge across it, climb the north- 
ern bank, and finish the victor}^ for the Confederates. They descend the 
southern slope, making their way through the chincopins and hazels. In- 
stantly a line of fire runs along the northern crest. The heavy cannon 
flame upon them in front, the eleven-inch shells come tearing across their 
flank, a withering storm of bullets beats in their faces. In a moment 
the line in gray melts away ; not a soldier gains the northern crest. The 
regiments are cut to pieces. With this last attack and repulse, the vic- 
tory, so sure a few moments ago, becomes a defeat. 

In the life of General Beauregard we And an account of this last 
attack : " General Beauregard, seeing that nothing but a concerted and 
well-supported attack, in heavy mass, could that evening strike a finishing 
blow, by which the enemy would be crushed, ordered the corps command- 
ers to make a hasty reorganization of the troops for a combined onslaught. 
He caused all fragmentary bodies and stragglers to be gathered up, and 
they were carried forward to swell the line of battle. They were not 
pressed to the front, as ordered, in combined attack, but in a series of dis- 
jointed assaults, which were easily broken, and with slaughter, by the for- 
midable weight of metal which girded the Federal position, supported by 
a still heavy force of infantry, while the shells of the gunboats swept the 
long ravine which our different commands had to cross. The troops were 
greatly disorganized ; the commands were cut up and intermingled, and 
greatly confused. . . . General Hardee was bringing up two regiments, 
when one broke in disorder and fell back out of the fight. . . . Wood's 
brigade made no impression upon the artillery and the infantry support- 
ing it. . . . Gladden's brigade was led under a heavy fire from the light 
batteries, siege-pieces, and gunboats across the ravine, ascended the ridge 
with bristling bayonets ; it could go no farther. . . . Chalmers vainly en- 
deavored to ascend the ridge. . . . Jackson saw that a farther advance was 
impracticable." 

"Three different times," says Colonel Fagan, of Gibson's brigade, "did 
we go into that valley of death, and as often were forced back. All was 
done that could be done, as the heaps of killed and M'ounded give ample 
evidence." 

The wearied soldiers of both armies lie down to sleep, with their 
loaded guns beside them, while the sentinels stand like statues along that 



212 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

valley of death, watching and waiting for the morning. There is little 
sleep for the Confederates, for through the night the gunboats send their 
shells through the forest in the direction of their bivouac fires. 

When General Grant arrived at Pittsburg Landing in the morning, 
and learned the state of affairs, he saw that there w^as no danger of an at- 
tack at Crump's Landing, and sent an order to Lew. Wallace to march at 
once to the "right of the army," but did not specify by which road. Gen- 
eral Grant had given a verbal order to the officer who carried it, but the 
order which General Wallace received at half-past eleven was written with 
a pencil upon a sheet of paper stained with tobacco juice, and bore no signa- 
ture. The officer, fearing that he might not remember what General Grant 
had said, picked up a crumpled piece of paper and wrote it with a pen- 
cil. General Wallace started at once, with his cavalry in advance, towards 
the sound of the firing, taking the road towards the bridge which he had 
constructed across Snake Creek. General Wallace did not know that Gen- 
eral Sherman had fallen back. While on the march a second officer came 
with an order for him to march rapidly, and who said, '' We are repulsing 
them." At this moment the firing' seemed to General Wallace to be get- 
ting farther away. Another messenger came. " Where are you going V' 
he asked. " To the right of the army," was the reply. " Don't you know 
that we are driven back almost to the landing, and the chances are that 
we shall be driven into the river?" General Wallace was astounded. 
General Rawlins, of Grant's staff, and McPherson, of the engineers, rode 
up, having been sent to ascertain his whereabouts, and to bring him with 
all possible haste to the landing. After conference with them, General 
Wallace ordered his division to countermarch and go back to the starting- 
point, and take the old road to the landing. We can see our mistakes 
after we have made them, but are not always clear as to what is best for 
us to do in emergency. General Wallace did not know the exact position 
of affairs at the landing, neither did General Grant know the exact posi- 
tion of General Wallace. Had either known just how things stood, it is 
altogether probable that Wallace, instead of countermarching, would liave 
gone on. He was in rear of the Confederates with six thousand men — 
those who had swept up the slope of Donelson under General Smith. 
The Confederates at this moment in front of Wallace were very much 
disorganized ; they had suffered severely from the fire of Sherman's, 
W. H. L. AVallace's, and McClernand's divisions. The appearance of such 
a body on their left flank and rear undoubtedly would have carried con- 
sternation along the demoralized and shattered ranks. Said Grant to 
General Wallace in 1864, "If I were to be in the same situation again I 






.^ --fa^ v-^i 




.<^ ■^'.j'.';-'-, 






THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 215 

slioiild order you to go on."' It was dark when the head of Wallace's col- 
umn reached the lower bridge across Snake Creek. lie crossed the creek 
and halted in the road, thus forming the right wing of the army for the 
battle of the next day. 

General Beauregard's headquarters on Sunday night were about one 
mile in rear of the line of battle. General Bragg occupied General Sher- 
man's tent near Shiloh Church. During the evening the Confederate 
corps commanders came together at Beauregard's headquarters and re- 
ceived their orders for the following day. They felt the loss of General 
Johnston, but were jubilant over what had been acconqilished, and confi- 
dent of success. They had no doubt that the victory would be made com- 
plete in the morning. General Beauregard sent a despatch to Richmond 
announcing that he had won a victory. He did not know that Buell at 
that moment was coming into position with his divisions on the north 
bank of Dill's ravine, where Chalmers and Jackson had been repulsed. 

During the night General Grant is laying his plans for the morning. 
As at Donelson, he decides no longer to stand on the defensive, but issues 
orders to begin the battle at daylight. He leaves General Buell to make 
whatever disposition he pleases with his troops. Just as daylight breaks, 
Thompson's battery, of Lew. Wallace's division, sends its shells across the 
ravine through which winds Tillman's Creek towards Snake Creek, upon 
Pond's brigade of Confederates. At the same instant the batteries down 
towards the river begin to thunder, and a few moments later the firing 
opens all along the Union line. With returning daylight many of the 
stragglers of yesterday, cheered now by the knowledge that Buell's army 
has arrived, return to their regiments. 

Beginning upon the right, between the road leading to Crump's Land- 
ing and Tillman's Creek, we see Lew. Wallace's division facing south- 
west, then Sherman facing south, then McClernand, and the remnant of 
W. H. L. Wallace, then Ilurlbut, and what is left of Prentiss. Buell's 
three divisions — Nelson's, McCook's, and Crittenden's — occupy the ground 
from the main Corinth road to the river. Nelson's division is in Dill's 
ravine. It is twenty minutes past five when Nelson moves out from the 
ravine southward, followed by C^rittenden, who conies into position on 
Nelson's right, followed in turn by McCook, who takes the right of Crit- 
tenden. The first musketry firing is between Nelson's skirmishers and 
the Confederates under Breckinridge. Almost at the same moment Wal- 
lace's skirmishers on the right advance upon Pond's Confederate brigade. 
Wallace crossed Tillman's Creek and pushed Pond frotn his position, then 
waited for the advance of Sherman on the edo;e of a larofe field. About 



216 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 




PITTSBUKG LANDINU. (^PROM A PIIOTOGllAPII, MAY, 1S62.) 

sev^en o'clock Sherman and McClernand advanced to the left of Wallace's 
division. While this is going on, BnelTs divisions are pnshing the Con- 
federates in front of them back over the ground where the fight M'as hot- 
test on Sunday — "the liornet's nest," as the soldiers called it. Through 
the forenoon the battle goes on, but not with the terrific energy of Sun- 
day. The Confederates are no longer on the aggressive. Two Union bat- 
teries, those of Mendenhall and Terrill, obtain a position from which they 
send an enfilading fire upon the Confederate batteries in front of McCook, 
General Sherman is upon the spot, and gives direction to the firing. The 
Confederate cannon are quickly silenced and driven. This, together with 
the folding back of Breckinrido;e and Brao-w by ISTelson and Crittenden on 
the left, the aggressive energy of McCook, Ilurlbut, and Sherman in the 
centre, and the resistless advance of Wallace on the right, can have but one 
result, the final defeat of the Confederates. 

Early in the forenoon General Beauregard gave up all expectation of 
winning the battle. He knew that Buell had arrived, that the Union 
army was now much larger than his own, that his army had lost its en- 
ergy, and that sooner or later he must retreat ; but he resolved to make a 
show of resistance, and to fall back that he might save his troops from a 
final rout, which would be the probable result if he were to attempt a 
vigorous attack. It was two o'clock when Governor Harris, of Tennessee, 
serving on General Beauregard's staff, asked Colonel Jordan if the battle 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 217 

was not going against them, and if there was not danger of a rout. Colo- 
nel Jordan expressed his fears to Beauregard for the safety of the army, 
and asked if it would not be well to get away as soon as they could. '' I 
intend to withdraw in a few moments," was the reply ; and officers were 
sent with orders to the cor])s commanders to retire from the field. At 
three o'clock the Confederate army, with disordered ranks, disheartened, 
defeated, having lost more than twelve thousand troops, began its weary 
march back to Corinth. The last roll of musketry died away — fired beyond 
the little log church, almost on the very spot where the struggle began. 

General Beauregard reached Corinth, and sent this despatch to Ilich- 
niond: "We have gained a great and glorious victory — eight to ten thou- 
sand prisoners and tliirty-six cannon. I>uell reinforced Grant, and we re- 
tired to Corinth, which we can hold. Loss heavy on both sides." On the 
same day he sent a flag of truce to Grant asking leave to bury his dead, 
with this message : " Sir, — At the close of the conflict yesterday, my forces 
being exhausted by the extraordinary length of time during which they 
were engaged with yours on that and the preceding day, and it being ap- 
])arent that you had received, and were still receiving,, reinforcements, I 
felt it my duty to retire, and withdraw my troops from the immediate 
scene of battle." 

The Union army lost thirty-three guns on the first day ; l)ut on the 
second Sherman"'s division recaptured seven, McClernand's three, and the 
army of Buell twenty — in all thirty guns. The Union loss was about 
twelve thousand, of whom three thousand were taken prisoners. General 
Beauregard reported his loss at nearly eleven thousand, almost all killed 
and wounded. He reported the number killed at seventeen hundred and 
twenty-eight. General Grant says that it was much lai-ger ; that more 
than that number were buried in front of the divisions of Sherman and 
McClernand. The Confederates were the attacking party on the first day, 
and their loss was much greater than Grant's. On the second day the 
Union army began the attack, and quite likely their loss was equal to the 
Confederate. The battle was fought with great obstinacy on the part of the 
Union troops. Grant says : " Excluding the troops who fled, panic-strick- 
en, before the}^ had fired a shot, there was not a time on the 6th when we 
had more than twenty-five thousand men in line." Beauregard's force 
was nearly forty thousand. The troops on both sides were undisciplined. 
The battle decided nothing, except that Beauregard lost liis prestige as a 
great commander. Ilis despatch announcing a great victory aroused for 
the moment the enthusiasm of the Southern people, but when they learned 
that it was a defeat instead he was no longer looked upon as a hero. 



218 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



CHAPTER X. 

NEW ORLEANS AND MEMPHIS. 

IT^ROM the forests of Minnesota, in the lieart of the continent, the Mis- 
sissippi River pours its mighty flood to the sea. "With its branches — 
the Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland, Arkansas, and Red rivers, and 
tlieir thousands of smaller streams — it is the arterial system of the conti- 
nent. The dead tree which falls into the stream five thousand miles away 
is borne to the Gulf of Mexico ; the grains of sand washed from the sum- 
mit of the Rocky Mountains is carried by the ever-sweeping current to 
the sea. When the Southern States seceded from the Union no river on 
the globe had a commerce so great as that of the Mississippi. 

The people of New Orleans had great expectations. They thought 
that by the secession of the Southern States and the setting up of the Con- 
federacy New Orleans would become the metropolis of the Western 
world ; that St. Louis and Cincinnati would cease to grow ; that New 
York would no longer control the commerce with England and Europe; 
that grass would grow in the streets of Boston. When the State seceded, 
cannon thundered on the levees and bonfires blazed. When troops were 
called for, the merchants opened their pocket-books and gave liberally to 
fit out the Washington Artillery, which took part in the battle of Bull 
Run. 

On the low and marshy land thirty miles from the Gulf of Mexico 
the United States had bnilt two strong forts — St. Philip, on the north 
bank, and Jackson, on the south. They were built of brick. The walls 
were thick, and there were one hundred and twenty-six guns in position 
to sweep the river. In addition to the forts, a great chain was stretched 
from shore to shore, resting upon eight old hulks anchored in the stream. 
Blacksmiths and carpenters were at work constructing a huge steam bat- 
tery, the 3£anassas, carrying sixteen guns, and a steam ram, the Louisi- 
ana^ shaped like a turtle, nearly all nnder water. Flat-boats were piled 
with pitch, pine- wood, and barrels of tar, to be sent adrift if a Union fleet 
should appear. 



NEW ORLEANS AND MEMPHIS. 



219 



Sucli a fleet did appear. Its commander was David Glasgow Farragut, 
who was born near Knoxville, Tennessee. He went to sea when he was 
only ten years old, under Captain Porter, in the frigate l^ssex, and was in 
the terrible fight between that vessel and the British ships Phoebe and 
Cheruh in the Bay of Valparaiso, in 1812. 

His friends were mostly in the South, but he was true and loyal to the 
flag under which he had fought, and was selected to command tlie fleet 
sent to capture New Orleans. He had seventeen vessels — all wooden 
ships — besides twentj^-one mortar-boats — schooners which had been pur- 
chased. In all, he had about two hundred cannon. 




M. ^ "L "V ^ Q) .>!>■'' 



'^/iSISS*^ 



£ PASS "7 

A, 



THE MISSISSIPPI BELOW NEW ORLEANS. 



A fleet of steamers sailed from Xew York with fifteen thousand troops 
on board, commanded by General Benjamin F. Butler, to hold the city 
after its capture. 

Admiral Farragut had much difliculty in getting the large vessels over 
the bar at the mouth of the river. It took two weeks, with the aid of tug- 
boats, to get the Pensacola across ; but one by one the vessels — all except 
the Colorado — were at last in the river. 



220 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

'' Dress all jour rigging with green booglis," was the order of the 
admiral. 

■ The soldiers went on shore with their axes, cut down branches of trees, 
took them on board, and lashed them to the masts and yard-arms. Below 
Fort Jackson the river turns, and the vessels dropped anchor under the 
shelter of the woods. Then the sailors saw why they had been ordered to 
dress the rio-o-inpr. The Confederate soldiers in the forts would not be 

OCT O 

able to distinguish the vessels from the trees. 

The mortar-vessels were drawn up beside the bank and tied to the 
trees. Mr. Gerdes, of the Coast Survey, went round the bend in a boat, 
sighted the fort with his transit instrument, and found out by triangula- 
tion just how far the distance was from the boats to the fort. 

Commander Porter had charge of the mortar-vessels. The Confed- 
erates had a regiment of men prowling tlirough the woods, up to their 
waists in water, who reported that the mortars were getting ready. 

Colonel Duncan, commanding the Confederate gunboats, let loose a* 
lire-boat. It was at daybreak, April IGth, when the Union sailors saw it 
sweeping round the bend, lighting up the river. They leaped into their 
boats, seized it with grappling-irons, and towed it to the shore. 

The next morning the mortars began, and before night one thousand 
four hundred shells, each M'eighing two hundred and eighty-five pounds, 
had been thrown into the forts. Through the night, the next day, and for 
six days and nights, the shells swept up from the mortars high in the 
air, and fell, sinking deep into the mud, exploding, lifting cart-loads of 
earth into the air. The barracks were set on fire, killing fourteen and 
wounding thirty-nine men. It was terribly trying to the Confederate sol- 
diers in St. Philip, who had little sleep. But they were brave, and though 
they could not see the mortar-boats, sent rifle-shot towards them, which 
crashed through the woods, sinking one of the schooners and disabling one 
of the Union steamboats. The thunder of the mortars rolled along the 
river, reverberating from shore to shore, stunning the fish, which floated 
to the surface, and breaking windows at the Balize, thirty miles away. 

Admiral Farragut was getting oiit of patience. The mortars could not 
silence the forts, and he determined to run past them ; but he must first 
cut the boom opposite Fort Jackson. In the night Captain Bell, M'ith 
two gunboats, steamed up to it. lie tried to blow up one of the hulks, 
but the torpedo did not explode. Men with hammers and chisels went 
to work upon the chain. Though all the guns in the fort were sending 
shot and shell upon them, they hammered till the chain snapped, leaving 
an opening for the ships. 



NEW ORLEANS AND MEMPHIS. 



221 



Down the river came more fire-rafts ; but tlie sailors knew Iiom' to man- 
age them, and no liarm was done, except that two of the vessels, in getting 
out of their way, ran against the steamer Jfississij^jd and carried away her 
main-mast. 

Admiral Farragut tliought out in advance what part each ship was to 
perform. He divided liis fleet into divisions. First division : Pensacola, 
Mississijypi, Cayuga, Oneida, Varnna, Katahdin, Kineo, and Wissahick- 
on. Centre division: Ilartford, Brooklyn, and Richmond. Third divis- 
ion: Si'lota, Iroquois, Kennebec, Pinola, Itasca, and Winona. 

The Ilariford was the flag-ship, a noble vessel, whicli sat as graceful as 
a swan upon the water. She was two hundred and twenty-five feet in 




FORTS OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



length, and carried twenty -two nine -inch Dahlgren guns, two twenty- 
pounder Parrott's, and a rifled Sawyer gun on her decks ; up in the main- 
tops were howitzers in iron houses. The forts w^ere so low that the howit- 
zers could pour grape and canister from the main-tops right down upo)i 
the men working the guns on the barbette of the forts. 

Admiral Fan-agut planned what each ship w^as to do. The column un- 
der his command was to attack Fort Jackson, while the right column, 
under Captain Bailey, was to push on and pour their broadsides into Fort 
St. Philip, and attack the Confederate fleet. 

The chain-cables were looped over the sides of the ships to protect 
them. The gun-carriages were whitewashed, so that the sailors might 
see how to liandle the guns. 

At midnight the boatswains piped their whistles, and the sailors on tiie 
ships leaped from the hamim)cks, which were stowed away, and the decks 
cleared for action. The sailors up at the mast-heads on the lookout, at 



222 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

five minutes before two, saw two red lanterns go np at the peak of tlie 
Ilarlford. It was the signal for sailing. 

- The Confederates knew that something was going on in the fleet, and 
they set great piles of wood on fire on both shores to light up the river, 
and sent down more fire-rafts, which came floating towards the ships. 

Three o'clock. The crescent moon is rising in the east. The sky is 
clear. Scarce a breath of air distnrbs the leaves of the forest. You hear 
only the swirling of the water. Suddenly the mortars open. The shells 
stream skyward, sail slowly for a moment through the air, and then de- 
scend upon the forts. Round the bend moves the line of ships, the 
Cayuga^ of Captain Bailey's division, in advance. The guns of Fort Jack- 
son flame, and a moment later those of St. Philip are thundering ; also a 
battery near by. Just above St. Philip are the Confederate war-vessels, 
ready for action. 

Five minutes — and the Cayuga has poured her broadsides into St. 
Philip, and has passed through the opening in the raft. Ten minutes 
more and five of the Confederate vessels are upon her like so many 
wolves upon a single deer that has outrun the rest of the herd. 

It is to be a battle fought in the darkness, with a thick haze on the 
river, with the smoke of nearly four hundred guns hanging like a pall 
over the swirling stream, with only the light of the crescent moon low 
in the eastern horizon, and the lurid flame of the fire-rafts and the flashes 
of the cannon, with clouds of black smoke rolling up from the chimneys of 
the war-ships, and the air thick with shot, shells, grape, and canister. No 
one can tell just what takes place. The vessels, one after another, steam 
through the opening in the raft. 

" The way to the work was phiin, 
Caldwell had broken the chain — 
(Two hulks swung down amain, 

Soon as 'twas sundered) — 
Under the night's dark blue. 
Steering steady and true. 
Ship after ship went through — 
Till, as we hove in view, 

Jackson out-thundered. 

"Back echoed Philip! Ah, then, 
Could j'ou have seen our men. 

How they sprung in the dim night's haze 
To their work of toil and clamor! 
How the loaders with sponge and rammers. 
And their captains with cord and hammers. 

Kept every muzzle ablaze." 



NEW ORLEANS AND MEMPHIS. 228 

The Pensacola follows the Cayuga, steaming slowly, her gunners 
taking deliberate aim, sending eighty-pound rifled shot, and shells, eleven 
inches in diameter, into the fort. But the gunners in the fort do terrible 
execution on her decks, killing and wounding thirty-seven men. 

Through the storm from both forts steams the Oneida, driving with 
all her force at a Confederate ship, striking it amidships and cutting it 
lialf-way through. Eoth broadsides flame at the same instant upon the 
Confederate vessels swarming around her. 

Up past the forts comes the Varioia, unfortunately running aground. 
Down upon her sweep the Confederate ships Governor Moore and the 
Manassas, crushing holes in her sides, smashing planks and timbers into 
kindlings. The vessel begins to sink, but her guns keep up their thunder- 
ing, sending three eight-inch shells into the Governor Moore, and riddling 
her sides with solid shot, making such terrible havoc that she pulls down 
her flag and surrenders. 

From the cannon on the other side of the ship five shells smash 
through the sides of another Confederate vessel, making it a complete 
wreck. The Varuiia sends still one more shell into the boilers of a third 
vessel. There is a rush and roar of steam, and the crew leap into the river 
to save themselves from being scalded. Lower settles the Varuna. The 
sailors leap from the deck into the rushing stream, to be picked up by the 
boats of the Oneida. 

The Mississippi poured a broadside into Jackson, another into St. 
Philip. The Manassas comes down with a rush upon her, crushing a 
hole in her hull below the water-line, and disabling her machinery by the 
shock. But all the while her guns are roaring — sending eight-inch solid 
shot into the Manassas, riddling her iron plates, setting her on fire. 

The Katahdln puts on all steam, runs close under St. Philip, and 
pours her fire into the iron-clad Louisiana. The Kiiieo runs close up 
to St. Philip, and then sends solid shot at the Manassas. 

The Wissahlckon, unfortunately, runs ashore in the darkness before 
reaching the fort, but floats again, runs past the forts, only to ground once 
more. These vessels belonged to the first division. They were to pay 
little attention to the forts, but to engage the thirteen Confederate vessels. 

It was just half-past three in the morning when the Hartford, leading 
the second division, swept round the bend of the river. By the light of 
the fire-rafts and the blazing piles of pitch-pine wood on shore the Con- 
federate gunners in Fort Jackson behold the beautiful outlines of the ves- 
sel, and the shot and shell begin to sweep her decks. The Hartford can 
only reply with her bow gun. Bat at five -minutes before four, from the 



224 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

middle of the stream, her broadsides open upon both forts. Ten minutes, 
and slie is past them, but in the darkness runs aground. The Manassas 
pushes a great raft of fire upon her. In an instant tlie flames are leaping 
up lier sides and into the rigging. The steam-pumps are set to work ; 
the sailors lower their buckets, dip up the water, dash it upon the flames, 
and all the while the cannon are thundering. 

" In a twinkling the flames had risen 
Half-way to maintop and mizzen, 
Darting up the shrouds like smoke. 
Ah, how we clanked at the brakes ! 
And the deep steam-pumps throbbed under. 
Sending a ceaseless flow. 
Our topmen — a dauntless crowd — 
Swarmed in rigging and shroud. 
There ('twas a wonder I) 
The burning ratlins and shrouds 
They quenched with their bare, hard liands. 
But the great guns below 
Never silenced their thunder !" 

The Hartford floats once more. A Confederate vessel crowded witli 
men comes down to board her, but Captain Broome lets flj a shell, and 
she disappears. 

The Brooklyn, in the darkness, runs upon one of the hulks of the raft. 
The Manassas, another Confederate vessel, fires upon her, but getting 
clear and running close up to St. Philip, the Brooklyn sends such a storm 
of grape and canister from her great guns that by the flashes the sailors 
can sec the Confederates fleeing from the fort. 

A Confederate vessel — the Warrior — comes down upon her, but the 
Brooklyn sends eleven shells into her, and the Warrior is a helpless 
wreck, on fire from stem to stern. 

The Richmond steams slowly past the forts, firing steadil}', the gun- 
ners watching the flashes from the fort and taking deliberate aim. 

The Sciota, with Captain Bell on her deck, leads, steaming rapidly past 
the forts, engaging two Confederate vessels, and setting them on fire. 

The Iroquois passes the forts. The Confederate vessel McCrea sweeps 
her decks with grape, but she sends one eleven-inch shell and a broad- 
side of canister into the Jlfc6'/'€«, driving her off, and opens her broad- 
sides upon the rest of the Confederate vessels. 

The Pinola — the last to pass the forts — receives the fire of the forty 
guns of St. Philip, but arrives in season to take part in the fight with 
the Confederate vessels. 



NEW OKLEANS AND MEMPHIS. 225 

A shell from one of the forts explodes in the boiler of the Itasca, and 
she drifts back below the hulk. The Winona is driven back, her decks 
slippery with the blood of her crew. 

What a scene it is ! Lurid flames, burning rafts, the flashing of three 
hundred guns, a storm of shells raining upon Fort Jackson, the air thick 
with solid shot, grape and canister, vessels rushing upon each other, black 
clouds of smoke rolling up from pitchwood smeared with tar, white clouds 
belching from the cannon's mouths ! 

Daylight is dawning — the uproar dying away. The Confederate fleet 
is destroyed. Some of the vessels have disappeared, like the Varuna, be- 
neath the swirling waters ; others are shattered wrecks drifting seaward. 
The Manassas is all aflame ; the powder left in her magazine explodes, 
and she disappears forever. 

Never before was there such consternation in New Orleans. Men lose 
their senses. At the levee is a great fleet of steamers loaded with cotton. 
In an instant they are ablaze — the people setting them on fire, cutting the 
cables, and sending them adrift in the stream. People run hither and 
thither, not knowing what to do or where to go. In an hour property 
worth millions of dollars is licked up by the flames. 

Up the river steam tlie vessels, the Cayuga in advance. Three miles 
below the city the Confederates have erected a battery of twenty heavy 
guns, which open upon her, but the Hartford, Pensacola, and BrooTdyn 
open with their broadsides sucli a stream that the Confederates flee in 
terror, and the vessels steam on, dropping anchor in front of the city at 
one o'clock in the afternoon of April 25th. On the ships the sailors swing 
their caps and hurrah. On the shore is a crowd of people cursing and 
swearing in impotent rage. 

" Burn the city !" shout the ragamuffins, who have nothing to lose. 

" Shoot the coward who commanded the forts !" they cry, not knowing 
how gallantly the Confederates in the forts had fought, nor that the Con- 
federate flag is still flying above them. 

But they could not hold them. The garrisons began to desert, and 
they were surrendered to General Butler, who took possession of New 
Orleans on the 1st of May. 

In the battle the loss on the ships was forty killed and one hundred 
and seventy-seven wounded. 

Let us see what has been accomplished in the Mississippi Yalley. The 
first victory was at Fort Henry ; the second. Fort Donelson. Then came 
the evacuation of Bowling Green and Nashville, the battle of Pittsburg 
15 



226 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Landing, the taking of Island jSTo. 10, the opening of the rivers down to 
Fort Pillow, liftv miles above Memphis. New Orleans has been taken, 
and the fleet of Admiral Farragut is at Yicksburg. 

AVe come to the last week in May. Since the battle of Pittsburg Land- 
ing General Ilalleck has been gathering an army of nearly one hundred 
thousand men to advance upon Corinth. Beauregard has about half as 
manv. He is exceedingly cautious, builds long lines of intrenchments, 
then advances a mile and builds another long line — sets the soldiers to 
work digging wells to supply the troops with water. He supposed that 
he would be compelled to besiege Corinth, and brought forward heavy 
guns and erected batteries. On the 28tli of May he opened fire. But 
there were no Confederates at Corinth; they had nuirehed silently away 
to Tupelo, fifty-two miles south of Corinth. 

General Halleck was greatly surprised and chagrined, for he had lost 
an opportututy to strike a blow. 

Fort Pillow, forty miles above Memphis, was no longer of any account, 
for the Union army could take it from the rear. The Confederates, there- 
fore, spiked the guns, burned their barracks and what supplies they could 
not take away; and the Confederate gunboats went down the river to 
Memphis, where several of the boats had been built. 

Commodore Montgomer}^ commanded the fleet. Lie had eight vessels. 
They were: General Beauregard, four guns; Little Rebel, two; General 
Price, four ; Sumter, three ; General Lovell, four ; Thompson, four ; Gen- 
eral Bragg, three; and General Van Dorn, four — total, twenty -eight 
guns. 

Fort Pillow evacuated ! It was astounding news to the people of 
Memphis. They learned it at noon, June 5th. The merchants closed 
their stores. Some of them began to pack their goods. Some of the citi- 
zens jumped on board the cars and fled from the city. 

The Confederate fleet made its appearance. 

"I shall retreat no farther," said Commodore Montgomery; "I shall 
fight a battle in front of the city, and to-morrow morning you will see 
Lincoln's gunboats sent to the bottom." 

The dawn is breaking when I step from the Benton, the flag-ship of 
Commodore Davis, to the tugboat Jessie Benton. It is a bright summer 
morning. The woods are resonant with the song of birds, the air balmy. 
Light fleecy clouds, fringed with gold, float along the eastern horizon. 

The Union fleet is at anchor three miles above the city. 

" Drop down below the city and see if you can discover the Confeder- 
ate fleet," is the order to tlie captain of the Jessie Benton. 



NEW ORLEANS AND MEMPHIS. 229 

We sweep around the majestic bend of the river and behold the city. 
Tlie first rays of the sun are gilding the spires of the churches. A crowd 
of people is upon the levee — men, women, and children — who have come 
out to see the Union fleet sent to the bottom. 

The Jessie Benton is a swift little craft, tender to the fleet to carry 
orders. As I stand upon the deck I can see all that is going on. Suddenly 
a vessel with a black cloud of smoke rolling from the chimneys shoots into 
the stream. It is the Little Rehel, Commodore Montgomery's flag-ship. 
One by one the other vessels follow, forming in two lines of battle. 

In the front line, nearest the city, is the JBeauregard, next the Little 
Rehel, then the Price and Sumter. In the second line, behind the Beau- 
regard, is the Lovell, then the Thompson, Bragg, and Yan Dorn. 

The Confederate cannon are rifled, and of long range. They are piv- 
oted, and can be pointed in all directions. The boilers of the vessels are 
protected by iron plates. Slowly they begin to move up stream, and the 
Jessie Benton turns her prow to the curi-ent, and we steam back to the 
fleet. 

The boatswains are piping all hands to quarter. The sailors are throw- 
ing open the ports, running out the guns, placing shot and shell on deck, 
taking down rammers and sponges, and distributing cutlasses. 

''Let the men have their breakfast," is the order from the flag-ship. 
Admiral Davis believes that the men will fight best on full stomachs. 
They eat the rations of beef and bread and drink their steaming coffee 
while standing beside the guns. 

There are five gunboats in the Union fleet. The Benton is nearest the 
Tennessee shore, then the Carondelet, Louisville, St. Louis, and Cairo. 
There are also two rams — the Queen City and Monarch. The rams are 
river steamers, with thick oak sides ; they carry no cannon, but on each 
boat are one hundred riflemen. 

" Round to ; head down stream ; keep in line with the flag-ship," was 
the order which we on board the Jessie Benton carried to each boat of the 
line ; then returned and took our position between the Benton and Caron- 
delet. 

I am on the top of the tug, beside the pilot-house. The sun is an 
hour high, and its bright rays lie in a broad line of golden light upon 
the eddying stream. Look down the river to the city and behold the 
house-tops, the windows, the levee crowded with men, women, and chil- 
dren. The flag of the Confederacy floats defiantly. The fleet is moving 
slowly towards us. A dense cloud of smoke rolls up from the chimneys 
of the steamers and floats over the city. 



230 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

There is a flasli, a 2:)nff from the Little Behel, a sound of something in 
the air, and a cohimn of water is thrown up a mile behind ns. A second 
shot from the Beauregard falls beside the Benton. A third from the 
Price, aimed at the Carondelet, misses by a foot or two, and dashes np the 
water between the Jessie Benton and the flag-ship. It is a sixty-four- 
ponnder. If it had struck ns our boat would have been splintered to kin- 
dlings in an instant. Commodore Montgomery sees that the boats of the 
Federal fleet have their iron-plated bows np stream, and comes np rapidly 
to crush them at the stern, where there are no iron plates. A signal goes 
up from the Benton, and the mud-turtles, as the soldiers called them, begin 
to turn towards the enemy. The crowd upon the levee think that the 
Federal boats are retreating, and hurrah for Commodore Montgomery. 

There has been profound silence on board the Union gunboats. The 
men are waiting for the word. It comes. 

" Open fire and take close quarters." 

The Cairo begins. A ten-inch shot screams through the air and skims 
along the water towards the Little Reljel ', another from the St. L^onis ; a 
third from the Louisville j another from the Carondelet ; and lastly from 
the Benton. The gunners crouch beside their guns to sight the shot. 
Some are too high, some too low. There is an answering roar from all the 
Confederate boats ; the air is full of indescribable noises ; the water boils 
and bubbles around us ; it is tossed up in columns and jets. There are 
sudden flashes overhead, explosions, and sulphurous clouds, and whirring 
of ragged pieces of iron. The cannonade reverberates from the high 
bluff behind the city to the dark green forest upon the Arkansas shore, 
and echoes from bend to bend. 

The space between the fleets is gradually lessening, for the turtles are 
advancing. A shot strikes the Little Rebel ; one tears through the Gen- 
eral Price, another through the General Bragg. Commodore Montgom- 
ery is above the city, and begins to fall back ; he is not quite ready to 
come to close quarters. How fast one lives at such a time ! All of your 
senses are quickened ; you see everything, hear everything ; the blood 
rushes through your veins, your pulse is quickened ; you long to get at 
the enemy, to sweep over the intervening space, lay your boat alongside, 
pour in a broadside, and knock them to pieces in a twinkling ! You care 
nothing for the screaming of the shot, the bursting of the shells. You 
have got over all that. You have but one thought — to tear down that 
hateful, flaunting flag; to smite the enemies of your country witli all 
your might. 

AVhile this cannonade was going on, I noticed the two rams casting 



NEW ORLEANS AND MEMPHIS. 231 

loose from the shore. I heard the tinkle of the engineer's bell for more 
fire and a full head of steam. The sharp-shooters took their place. The 
Queen came out from the shelter of the cotton-woods, crossed the river, 
and passed down between the Benton and the Carondelet. Colonel Ellet 
stood beside the pilot and waved his hand to me. The Monarcli was a 
little later, and instead of following in the wake of the Queen^ passed 
between the Cairo and the 8t. Louis. 

See the Queen! Her great wheels whirl up clouds of spray, and leave 
a foaming path. She carries a silver train sparkling in the morning light. 
She ploughs a furrow which rolls the width of the river. Our boat dances 
like a feather on the waves. She gains the intervening space between the 
fleets. !Never moved a queen so determinedly, never one more fleet — 
almost leaping from the water. The Stars and Stripes stream to the breeze 
beneath the black cloud unfolding, expanding, and trailing far aAvay from 
her smoke-stacks. There is a surging, hissing, and smothered screaming 
of the pent-up steam in her boilers, as if they had put on all their energy 
for the moment, as if they had flesh, blood, bones, iron, brass, steel, and 
were nerved up for the trial of the hour ! 

Confederate oflicers and men behold her in astonishment. For a mo- 
ment there is silence. The men stand transfixed at their guns, forgetting 
their duties ,• then, as if moved by a common impulse, bring their guns 
to bear upon her. She is exposed on the right, on the left, and in front. 
It is a terrible cross-fire. Solid shot scream past, shells explode around 
her. She is pierced through and through. Her timbers crack ; she quiv- 
ers beneath the shock, but does not falter. On, on, faster, straight towards 
the General Beauregard. 

The commander of that vessel adroitly avoids the stroke. The Queen 
misses her aim ; sweeping by like a race-horse, receiving the fire of the 
Beauregard on one side and the Little Rebel on the other. She comes 
round in a graceful curve, almost lying down upon her side, as if to cool 
her heated smoke-stacks in the stream. The stern-guns of the Beauregard 
send their shot through the bulwarks of the Queen. A splinter strikes 
the brave commander. Colonel Ellet. He is knocked down, bruised and 
stunned for a moment, but sj^rings to his feet, steadies himself against 
the pilot-house, and gives his directions as coolly as if nothing had hap- 
pened. 

The Queen passes round the Little Rehel and approaches the General 
Price. 

" Take her aft the wheelhouse !" shouts Colonel Ellet to the pilot. The 
commander of the Price turns towards the approaching antagonist. Her 



^32 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



wlieels turn ; she surges aliead to escape the terrible blow. Too late. 
There is a splintering, crackling, crashing of timbers ; the broadside of the 
boat is crushed in. It is no more than a box of cards or thin tissue-paper 
before the blow. 

There are jets of flame and smoke from the loop-holes of the Queen. 
The sharp-shooters are at it. You hear the rattling lire, and see the crew 
of the Price running wildly over the deck, tossing their arms. The un- 
ceasing thunder of the cannonade drowns their cries. A moment, and a 
white flag goes up. She surrenders. 

But the Queen has another antagonist — the Beauregard — which 
sweeps down with all her power. There is another crash ; the bulwarks 
of the Queen are crnshed. There is a great opening in her hull. But 
no white flag is displayed ; no cries for quarter, no thoughts of surrender- 
ing. The sharp-shooters pick off the gunners of the Beauregard., com- 
pelling them to take shelter beneath their casemates. 

We who see-it hold our breaths, unmindful of the explosions around us. 
How will it end ? Will the Queen sink with all her brave men on board? 

But her consort is at hand — the 
Monarch — commanded by Captain El- 
let, brother of Colonel Ellet. He was 
five or ten minutes behind the Queen 
in starting, but he has appeared at the 
right moment. He, too, has been un- 
mindful of the shot and shell falling 
around him. He aims straight as an 
arrow for the Beauregard. The Beau- 
regard is stiff, stanch, and strong, but 
her timbers, planks, knees, and braces 
are no more than laths before the pow- 
erful stroke of the Monarch. The 
sharp-shooters pour in their fire. The 
engineer of the Monarch puts his force- 
pumps in play and drenches the decks 
of the Beauregard with scalding water. 
An officer of the Beauregard raises a 
white cloth upon a ]-ammer, the signal 
for surrender.' The sharp-shooters stop 
firing. At this moment three boats are floating helplessly in the stream, 
the water pouring into the hulls through the splintered planking. 

Captain Ellet saw that the Queen was disabled, and took her in tow to 







NAVAL, ENGAGEMENT AT MEMPHIS, 
JUNE 6, 1SC2. 

1. Federal gunboats; 2, 2. General Beaure- 
gard : 3, 3. Little Rebel ; 4, 4. General Price ; 
5, 5. Sumter , 6, C. General Lovell ; 7, 7. Gen- 
eral Thompson ; S, S. General Bragg ; 9, 9. 
General Van Born ; Q. Queen City ; M. Mon- 
arch. 



NEW ORLEANS AND MEMPHIS. 233 

the Arkansas shore. Prompted by humanity, instead of falling upon the 
other vessels of the fleet he took the General Price to the shore. 

The Little Rebel was pierced through her hull by a half-dozen shots. 
Commodore Montgomery saw that the day was lost. He ran alongside the 
Beauregard^ and notwithstanding the vessel had surrendered, took the crew 
on board to escape. But a shot from the Cairo passed through the boilers 
of the Little liehel. The steam rushed out like tlie hissing of serpents. 
The boat was nera* the shore, and the crew jumped into the water, climbed 
the bank, and fled to the woods. The Cairo gave them a broadside of 
shells as they ran. 

The Beauregard was fast settling. The Jessie Benton ran alongside. 
All had fled save the w^ounded. There was a pool of blood u^Jon the deck, 
warm from the heart of a man who had been killed by a shell, 

"Helj), quick !" was the cry of Captain Maynadier. 

I rushed on board in season to assist in saving a wounded ofiicer, lift- 
ing him to tlie deck of our boat, and the next moment the Beauregard 
disappeared. 

" I thank you,'' said the officer, " for saving me from drowning. You 
are my enemies, but you have been kinder to me than those whom I called 
my friends. One of my brother oflicers, when he fled, had the meanness 
to pick my pocket and steal my watch, thinking it was the last of me." 

There is no cessation of the cannonade. The fight goes on. The 
Benton is engaged with the Lovell. They are but a few rods apart, and 
both within a stone's-throw of the multitude upon the shore. 

Captain Phelps stands by one of the Benton's rifled guns, runs his eye 
along the siglits, and gives the word to fire. The steel-pointed shot enters 
the starboard side of the hull by the water-line. Timbers, braces, planks — 
the whole side of the boat, is torn out ; the water pours in. The vessel 
settles to the guards, to the ports, reels, and with a lurch disappears, going 
down like a lump of lead. It is the work of three minutes. 

Her terror-stricken crew are thrown into the current. A man with 
his left arm torn, broken, bleeding, and dangling by his side, runs wildly 
over the deck. He beckons now to those on shore, and now to his friends 
on board the boats. He looks iniploringly to Heaven and calls for help, 
then disappears in tlie eddying whirlpool. A hundred human beings are 
struggling for life, buffeting the current, raising their arms, catching at 
sticks, straws, planks, and timbers. " Help ! help ! help !" they cry. It is 
a wild wail of agony mingled with the cannonade. 

There is no help for them on shore ; there, within a dozen rods, are 
their friends — their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, wives, children — 



234 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATIOX. 

they who urged them to join the service, who all but compelled them to 
enlist. All are powerless to aid them ! Tliej who stand upon the shore 
behold those whom they love defeated, crushed, drowning, calling for help ! 

Commodore Davis beholds them. His heart is touched. " Save them, 
lads !" he says. 

The crews of the Benton and Carondelet rush to their boats. So eager 
are they to save the struggling men that one of the boats is swamped in 
the launching. Away they go, picking up one here, another there — ten or 
twelve in all. A few reach the shore and are helped up the bank by look- 
ers-on, but fifty or sixty sink to rise no more. How noble the act ! how 
glorious ! Bright amid all the distress, all the horror, will shine forever, 
like a star of heaven, such an act of humanity. 

The Price, Beauregard, Little Rehel, and Lovell — one-half of the Con- 
federate fleet — W'Cre disposed of. The other vessels attempted to flee. 
The Union fleet had swept steadily on in an unbroken line. Amid all the 
appalling scenes of the hour there was no lull in the cannonade. While 
saving those who had lost all power of resistance, there was no cessation of 
effort to crush those who still resisted. 

A short distance below the Little Rebel, the Thompson, riddled by shot 
and in flames, was run ashore. A little farther down stream the Bragg 
was abandoned, also in flames from the explosion of a nine - inch shell 
thrown by the St. Louis. The crews leaped on shore and fled to the 
woods. The Sumter went ashore near the Little Reljel. The Van Dorn 
alone escaped. She was a swift steamer, and was soon beyond reach of 
the guns of the fleet. 

The fight is over. The thunder of the morning dies away, and the 
birds renew their singing. The abandoned boats are picked up. The 
Thompson cannot be saved. The flames leap around the chimneys ; the 
boilers are lieated to redness. A pillar of Are springs upward in long 
lances of light. The boilers, beams of iron, burning planks, flaming tim- 
bers, cj^nnon, shot, and shells, are lifted five hundred feet in air in an ex- 
panding, unfolding cloud, filled with loud explosions. The scattered frag- 
ments rain upon forest, field, and river, as if meteors of vast proportions 
had fallen from heaven to earth. There is a shock which shakes all Mem- 
phis, and announces to the disappointed, terror-stricken, weeping, humili- 
ated multitude that the drama which they have played so madly for a 
twelvemonth is over, that retribution has come at last. 

Thus, in an hours time, the Confederate fleet was annihilated. Com- 
modore Montgomery was to have sent the Union boats to the bottom ; but 
his expectations were not realized, his promises not fulfilled. It is not 



NEW ORLEANS AND MEMPHIS. 



235 




CLOSING SCENE OF THE NAVAL BATTLE UK] oljl. Ml Mllii^^ 

THE TIME.^ 



Kii-M A SKETCH MAKI, AT 



known how many men were lost on tlie Confederate side, hnt probably 
from eighty to a hundred. Colonel Ellet was the only one injured on 
board the Union fleet. The gunboats were uninjured. The Queen was 
the only boat disabled. In striking contrast was the destruction of Mont- 
gomery's fleet. 

The victory opens the Upper Mississippi from Cairo to Vicksburg. 



236 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 

''I^IIE section of Virginia between James and York rivers is called by 
-•- the people of that State "The Peninsula," and the military move- 
ment made by the Army of the Potomac in 18G2 is known as the Penin- 
sular campaign. 

When the army under General McDowell marched to Bull Tiun it was 
a movement towards Richmond. The idea was uppermost in the mind 
of the people and of General McClellan that he must capture Richmond. 
It was the capital of the Confederacy. The Confederate Congress was in 
session there. It was thought that its capture would put an end to the 
rebellion. The people had cried, " On to Richmond !" bat they did not 
see, neither did General McClellan, that Richmond was of little account. 
The strength of the Confederacy was in the armies under Jolmston and 
Beauregard. They must be defeated before the rebellion could be crushed. 
In the Revolutionary War the British obtained possession of Philadelphia, 
but the Continental Congress moved to York, and the war went on. 
When General Howe got tired of holding it he undertook to march to 
New York, and was pounced upon by General Washington at Monmouth. 

President Lincoln saw what General McClellan and the people did not 
see — that the Confederate army must be defeated first of all. Jolmston 
was at Centreville. Why not attack hira there, within a day's march of 
supplies ? 

President Lincoln became so dissatisfied with General McClellan's in- 
action that on Washington's birthday, February 22d, he issued an order 
for all the armies to move. The Western armies did move, and we have 
seen what they accomplished at Donelson, Island No. 10, and Pittsburg 
Landing. At the time the order was issued General McClellan had no 
plan as to what he would do. He was not willing to march to Centre- 
ville, which was strongly fortified, but wanted to go down the Potomac 
to tlie Peninsula, and march to Richmond. 

"McClellan never intended to march to Centreville," says Prince De 



THE PENINSULAK CAMPAIGN. 237 

Joinville, of France, who was on McClellan's staff, and who has written a 
liistory of the war. " For weeks and perhaps months this plan of going 
to tlie Peninsula had been secretly maturing." 

The President was afraid that while MeClellan was on his way to 
Piehmond General Johnston would be on his way to Washington — for 
Jefferson Davis would have liked nothing better than to swap off Rich- 
mond for AVashington. We now know that Davis and Johnston talked 
the matter over, and that one of the plans devised by Beauregard was to 
cross the Potomac below Washington, and another to cross above Wash- 
ington, get between Washington and Baltimore and cut the railroad. 

President Lincoln- said that General MeClellan and his corps com- 
manders must decide upon a plan, but that enough troops must be left 
to protect Washington. There were five corps commanders — Sumnei', 
McDowell, Ileintzelman, Porter, and Iveyes. 

" A force of forty thousand should be left to protect Washington," 
said General Sumner. 

" With the forts fully garrisoned, twenty-five thousand men will be 
enough," said Keyes, Ileintzelman, and McDowell. 

" Leave Washington entirely secure, and move the remainder of the 
force down the Potomac, choose a new base at Fortress Monroe or any- 
where, but move in pursuit of the enemy by some route," was the order 
of Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War. 

The day after the council of war General Johnston and Jefferson 
Davis knew all about it through spies ; for there were still a great many 
men and women in AVashington who sympathized with the Confederates, 
and who planned to find out all that was going on. 

General Johnston saw that he must be in position to defend Rich- 
mond ; it was of no use to stay at Centreville. He sent off his supplies, 
abandoned the batteries along the Potomac, evacuated Centreville, crossed 
the Rappahannock River, and waited to see what MeClellan was going 
to do. 

The army was to go by water, one hundred and eighty miles, to For- 
tress Monroe. Open your map of Virginia and you will see the James , 
River coming down fi-om Richmond. Xorth of it is the York River, a 
short arm of Chesapeake Bay, with a railroad leading from West Point to 
Richmond. 

Never before was there such activity in hiring vessels — 113 steam- 
boats, 188 schooners, 88 barges, which were obtained in Baltimore, Phila- 
delphia, New York, and Boston, costing millions of dollars. In thirty- 
seven days 122,000 men, 15,000 horses, 1150 wagons, 264 pieces of field 



238 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

artillery, beside ambulances, tliousands of tents, a mountain of supplies, 
were transported from Washington to Fortress Monroe. 

The Confederate works at Yorktown were erected where the English 
fortifications stood in the Eevolutionarj War. When these were cap- 
tured, the vessels could then go up York River to West Point and White 
House, and the army, while besieging Tlichmond, could receive its supplies 
by the York River Railroad. General McDowell, with forty thousand 
men, was to move from Washington to Fredericksburg, covering Wash- 
ington till the army was in front of Richmond, and then join him. 

General McClellan could not go up James River, because the Merri- 
mac was guarding it, with only the Monitor to keep lier from destroy- 
ing the Union fleet. Going now to Yorktown, M-e find Wormsley Creek 
emjDtying into York River, on the one hand, and Warwick River empty- 
ing into the James, on the other, with only a narrow strip of land between 
them. General Magruder, commanding the Confederates at Yorktown, 
built dams on the streams, making them wide and deep, and erected earth- 
works and mounted heavy guns. He had only eleven thousand men to 
hold a line thirteen miles in length". General Johnston, commanding the 
Confederate army at Richmond, thought that it would not be possible for 
him to hold Yorktown for any length of time, and instructed Magruder to 
make as much show and noise as he could with his troops, Magruder was 
ready to retreat at any moment, and was much surprised when he saw the 
Union army go into camp and begin to throw up intrenchments. 

McClellan expected that the navy would attack the Confederate bat- 
teries at Yorktown, and open a passage up York River, but Commodore 
Goldsborougli said he had not enough vessels to undertake it. McClellan 
expected that the forty thousand troops at Fredericksburg, under McDow- 
ell, would come down and threaten the rear of Magruder, but President 
Lincoln, not willing to leave Washington exposed, withdrew McDowell 
from McClellan, who complained that it overturned all his plans. He de- 
cided that he must have heavy cannon and begin a siege. The soldiers laid 
aside their muskets and began to construct earthworks. 

In a field on the farm of Mr. Garrow stood three chimneys. General 
Magruder had burned the houses that they might not afford shelter to the 
Union troops. A Vermont soldier discovered that Warwick River was 
only about waist-deep at that point, and that there was not a large force 
of Confederates opposite. There was an earthwork with a twenty-four- 
pounder howitzer near the stream, and a quarter of a mile away two 
smaller cannon. The soldiers of the Vermont brigade could see that the 
Confederates were strengthening their works. General McClellan ordered 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 



239 



the Yerinont troops to make a reconnoissance across the stream. On the 
morning of April 16th the Yermonters could hear the Confederate bands 
playing the tune of " Rosa Lee." Just then the cannon of Mott's Union 
battery opened their brazen lips and sent their shells across the stream, 
and the band stopped playing. The Third and Fourth regiments from 
Vermont opened lire. The Confederate guns replied. Through the fore- 
noon the fusillade went on. General McClellan and all the members of 
his staff rode down towards the three chimneys, and looked through their 
glasses at the Confederate works. McClellan ordered General Smith, com- 




THE PENINSULAK CAMPAIGN. 



mantling the troops, to send a small force across the stream, but not to 
bring on a general battle. Two companies of the Third Vermont, holding 
their guns and cartridge-boxes over their heads, crossed the river, while 
eighteen cannon rained shells upon the Confederate works. The Confed- 
erate troops in the rifle-pits fled. The Vermoiiters waited for reinforce- 
ments, but none were sent. The Fifteenth Xorth Carolina opened upon 
them, but its colonel was killed, and the regiment thrown into confusion. 
Two Georgia regiments came and opened a destructive fire, and a little 
later seven Confederate regiments came upon the run, and the Vermonters 



240 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

were compelled to retreat. Of one hundred and ninety-two who crossed 
the stream, nearly one-half were killed or wounded. Among the killed 
was William Scott. In the month of November, ISGl, while the regiment 
was near AVashington, he went on picket two nights in succession, the last 
night to relieve a sick comrade. He fell asleep, was tried by court-martial, 
and condemned to be shot. It was the evening before the day fixed for 
his execution when a gentleman from Vermont came to my room greatly 
distressed, and asking if there was not some way by which the life of Will- 
iam Scott could be saved. There was a minister in Washington for 
whom President Lincoln had great regard — Rev. Mr. Smith. I hastened 
to Mr. Smith's house and found that he had gone to bed, but when he 
learned what I wanted, he quickly dressed and went with me to the White 
House. I remained in the anteroom while he ascended the stairs to see 
the President, and to intercede for the life of the boy. This was the re- 
ply of President Lincoln : " I shall take into consideration all extenuating 
circumstances, and endeavor to do what is right." Others came to inter- 
cede for the boy. In the morning, instead of a file of soldiers, a volley, a 
mangled corpse. President Lincoln jumped into a carriage and drove with 
all haste to the regiment, arriving there just in season to put a stop to 
his execution. On the bank of the river Warwick we see William Scott, 
mortally wounded, offering, with his dying breath, his last prayer that God 
will bless President Lincoln. 

Through the month the soldiers were digging in the mud ; McClellan 
was getting the two-hundred-pounder guns into position. When all were 
ready he would open a terrific cannonade. On the night of May 1st a 
negro came into the Union lines with the information that the Confeder- 
ates were leaving Yorktown. McClellan did not believe the story. On 
the morning of the 4th he would open fire. 

"Keep up a heavy fire through the night, but spike the cannon at day- 
break and retreat to Williamsburg," was General Magruder's order ; and all 
through the night the Confederate cannon thundered, throwing shot and 
shell at the Union earthworks. 

Daybreak came, and suddenly the firing ceased. There was silence in 
Yorktown ; and then General McClellan discovered that there was not a 
Confederate soldier in the place ; all had gone. 

"With five thousand men we had stopped and held in check over one 
hundred thousand of the enemy," said Magruder. He carried oif all his 
light artillery, but left fifty-two heavy guns in the intrenchments. 

It is twelve miles from Yorktown to Williamsburg. Three miles east 
of the town you come to College Creek, which runs south to the James. 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 243 

Another little stream, Queen's Creek, trickles north to York River. Tiie 
old stage-road from Yorktown to Kichmond runs along the narrow neck 
of land between the head-waters of the two streams. At this gate-way the 
Confederate engineers had laid out Fort Magruder. With the two streams 
protecting the flanks, it would be an easy matter for a small force in the 
fort and behind the breastwork^ to hold a much larger army at bay. 

Early in the morning of May 4th the cavalry under General Stone- 
man left Yorktown in pursuit of Magruder. The mud was deep in the 
roads, the cavalry could not ride verj^ fast, but before night they came 
upon the Confederates of General Longstreet's division. In a short time 
thirty of the cavalry went down before the Confederate rifles. The bat- 
tery horses sank in the mire. The Confederates saw their opportunity, 
rushed upon them, and captured one of Gibson's guns. Stoneman was 
obliged to fall back. There had been a drizzling rain through the day, 
and at night a storm set in which drenched the weary troops of both ar- 
mies, who had to lie tentless upon the water-soaked turf. 

The morning of May 5tli dawned ; the rain had ceased. General Hook- 
er's division of Ileintzelman's corps had pressed on, following the cavalry, 
and at half-past seven was in line of battle, advancing towards Fort Ma- 
gruder, south of the stage-road, while Smith's division came into line 
north of it. Long-street's troops, had greatly the advantage in position. 
Longstreet and A. P. Hill h,ad gone as far as Williamsburg, but seeing 
how strong a place it was between the two streams, had turned back to 
hold it. When Hooker began the attack only a portion of the Confeder- 
ates had arrived. Their cannon were in the fort, well protected, while 
the Union artillery was in the open fleld. While the Union batteries 
were wheeling into position, shells began to explode among the horses and 
cannoneers. When once in position, the Union artillerymen sent their 
shot and shells with such true aim that several of the Confederate cannon 
were silenced. Hooker's brigades came out of the woods along the east- 
ern bank of the stream to find themselves in front of a formidable abatis. 
The soldiers crouched amid the fallen trees and poured in their fire. A 
desperate struggle begins. The Confederates advance, but are in turn 
driven. The Union men work their way almost up to the fort, but are 
compelled to fall back. Through the forenoon Hooker carries on the bat- 
tle alone; not a musket is fired by Smith's division. General McClellan 
is at Yorktown, and does not know that a battle is going on. He has ap- 
pointed General Sumner to take command at the front. There are nearly 
forty thousand men near at hand, but Sumner issues no order ; not a bri- 
gade is ordered to Hooker's assistance. 



244 



drum-bp:at of the nation. 



General Kearney is far away with his division. He hears the nproar 
of battle. He is an old soldier, was in the Mexican War, and in Italy, 
at the battle of Solferino. The road is filled with teams, but he orders 
them aside and hurries on with his men. He waits for no orders from 
the commander-in-cliief, nor from Sumner, His troops grow weary. He 
knows that they need to have their enthusiasm aroused, and orders the 
band to play. " Play ' Yankee Doodle,' or any other doodle you can think 

of!" he shouts. The band strikes 




MAP OF WILLIAMSBURG. 



up, and the w^eary soldiers swing 
their caps and push on towards 
the battle-field. 

Peck's brigade, of Couch's 
division, comes into position on 
Hooker's right on the stage-road. 
At tlie same moment Kearney's 
troops, which have marched past 
other divisions, come up and re- 
lieve Hooker, who has fought 
the battle alone through the day. 
Berry's brigade is in the advance. It emerges from the woods, and 
comes into line in rear of Hooker. It has come at the right moment, for 
Longstreet is advancing. Hooker's troops file to the rear, the Confeder- 
ates following with a victorious cheer ; but suddenly a pitiless storm bursts 
upon them from Berry's line. 
" Give them the bayonet !" 

The order runs along the line. Kearney's men rush forward with a 
cheer, driving tlie Confederates back to the fort. 

" You can get across Queen Creek down there," said a negro to Cap- 
tain Stewart. " There is a dam, and the road crosses it and goes on to 
Williamsburg." 

General Smith sent Caj)tain Stewart with four companies to see 
about it. 

" Infantry and artillery can cross," was the word sent back by Stewart ; 
and General Hancock with his brigade moves up the road, crosses the 
dam, and takes possession of the deserted Confederate intrenchments on 
the west side. He has tlie Sixth Maine, Fifth Wisconsin, Forty -ninth 
Pennsylvania, Forty-third New York, and Wheeler's battery. He can see 
Fort Magruder across the plain to the south, smoking and flaming. He is 
almost in Johnston's rear. 

" 1 can go to Fort Magruder if well supported," is his message to Gen- 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 245 

eral Smith, his division commander. He is in a field near a farm-house. 
From the farm-house westward is a rail-fence. Wheeler's battery comes 
into position on a knoll close by the house. The Fifth Wisconsin and For- 
ty-third New York are behind the fence ; the Forty-ninth Pennsylvania 
behind the house ; the Sixth Maine are behind the battery to support it. 
Out from a piece of woods come two Confederate brigades of Hill's divis- 
ion. Wheeler's guns flame. Hancock sees that the force in front of him 
is greatly superior to his own. He is too far out, and retreats towards the 
dam, to a better position on the east of a hill, all the troops in line. 

On sweep the Confederates with exultant cheers ; but the cheering 
suddenly ceases, for a terrible fire bursts upon them. They come to a 
stand-still. 

Down the slope moves the Union line, and the Confederates flee across 
the field. More than five hundred are cut off by Hancock's advance, and 
find themselves prisoners. Night is settling down. The battle is over, 
the victory won. 

During the night Johnston retreats, leaving several cannon, many wag- 
ons, and several hundred of his wounded. Of the Union troops two thou- 
sand two hundred were killed and wounded ; of the Confederates, about 
one thousand. 

There was a commotion in Kichmond. 

" In the President's mansion," writes Pollard, the Southern historian, 
" all was consternation and dismay." 

Jefferson Davis's niece wrote a letter to a friend, but the mail-bag was 
captured. Thus read the letter : " General Johnston is falling back from 
the Peninsula, and Uncle Jeff thinks we had better go to a safer place 
than Richmond. He is miserable. He tries to be cheerful and bear up 
against such a continuation of troubles ; but, ah I I fear he cannot live 
long if he does not get some rest and quiet." 

The Confederate Congress adjourned hastily. A great many people 
left the city. The public documents were put in boxes and sent away, 
Mrs. Jefferson Davis took down her window-curtains, tore up the carpets, 
packed the pictures, and left the city. The Treasury Department, printing 
notes which passed for money, removed its presses to Georgia, and univer- 
sal gloom settled over the Confederate capital. 

To understand General McClellan's campaign on the Peninsula we 
shall have to study the map not only of the country around Pichmond, 
but also take a look at Norfolk, the Shenandoah Valley, and Fredericks- 
burg. 

General McClellan wanted to capture Richmond. He was moving up 



246 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

the Peninsula for that purpose, expecting that General McDowell, who 
was at Fredericksburg, would move south, and join him on the north bank 
of the Chickahominy River. 

Let us see the outlook now from the Confederate side. 

"Richmond," said the Despatch of that city, "must be defended. If 
it is captured, in the eyes of Europe it would be like the taking of London 
or Paris bj an enemy." 

General McClellan did not want to attack the Confederate army at 
Centreville, because the fortifications were strong, but those around Rich- 
mond were a great deal stronger. Thousands of slaves had been working 
with spades and shovels throwing up intrenchments. To prevent the 
Union gunboats from ascending James River, piles were driven across 
the stream a few miles below the city, and heavy guns mounted at Dru- 
ry's Bluff. The Confederate Government set itself to gather an armj as 
large as that commanded by General McClellan, and troops were hurried 
up from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. 

In the Shenandoah Valley there are two Union armies : one, under 
General Fremont, of ten thousand men, is in the upper Shenandoah ; the 
other, under General Banks, who is at Harrisonburg with five thousand. 
They are not far apart. United, they can move upon Richmond from 
the west. 

The. Confederate Government sent General Jackson with twenty thou- 
sand men to capture or drive Fremont and Banks out of the Shenandoah 
Valley, which he did very quickly, driving Fremont west towards Kana- 
wha, and compelling General Banks to retreat down the Shenandoah into 
Maryland. He accomplished it by rajjid marches ; by falling first on one 
and then on the other before they were aware of his presence. It was 
a ver}' ;ibly conducted campaign on the part of Jackson, and the world 
began to see that he was a remarkable man. 

The Confederate Government had no troops to spare to hold Norfolk ; 
it was decided to abandon the place. On the night of May 10th the 
buildings in the navy yard were set on fire. Commodore Tatnall, com- 
manding the Merrimae, finding that he could not take her up James 
River, set her on fire. The flames reached the magazine, and at five 
o'clock in the morning there was an explosion heard far away. James 
River was open now to the Union gunboats, and the Monitor and the 
Galena went up to Drury's Bluff, almost to Richmond. The guns in 
the Confederate works were so much higher than the cannon on the 
vessels that the Confederates had the advantage, and the gunboats were 
repulsed. 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 247 

The Union army was advancing along the banks of the Chickahominy, 
and a great fleet of steamers and schooners were unloading supplies at 
White House. General McClellan might have stopped where he was, sent 
the supplies round to James River, marched the army in that direction, and 
made Harrison's Landing his base of supplies. He had formed his plan, 
and did not change it, for he expected that McDowell with his troops 
would come down from Fredericksburg and join him ; but McDowell was 
no longer under him ; besides. General Anderson was at Bowling Green, 
near Fredericksbui-g, with fifteen thousand Confederate troops, and Gen- 
eral Branch was at Hanover Court-house with nine thousand, confronting 
McDowell. 

The Chickahominy is a small stream, not more than forty feet wide 
in August ; but when the spring rains are on, it overflows its banks and 
spreads out over all the valley, which is nearly a mile wide. There are 
marshes, swamps, dense forests, and tangled thickets. The railroad as you 
go from "West Point to Richmond crosses from the north to the south at 
Bottom's Bridge. The Confederates had destroyed all the bridges, but 
the Union army rebuilt them. Engines and cars were brought oil vessels 
from Baltimore and Washington, and the railroad put in running order. 
The army was divided. Three corps — Sunmer's, Porter's, and Franklin's — 
advanced up the north bank, Keyes's and Heintzelman's along the south 
bank, of the Chickahominy. It is less than forty miles from Williams- 
burg to Bottom's Bridge, but the movement was so slow that two weeks 
passed before the army reached the bridge, which gave General Johnston 
ample time to concentrate the Confederate troops. General Fitz-John 
Porter advanced to Hanover Court-house, had a brush with General 
Branch, captured one cannon and some prisoners, and tore up the rail- 
road track on the line running to Gordonsville. 

It is the last week in May. Johnston's opportunity has come. The 
Union army is divided. He will move out from Richmond with nearly 
all his force, and strike Keyes and Heintzelman, and crush them with an 
overwhelming blow. The Chickahominy, with its swirling flood, would 
be his ally ; for a great rain flooded the lowlands and swept away all but 
one of the bridges. With the bridges gone, McClellan would not be able 
to send any troops to their assistance. 

The planters of Virginia have a delightful custom of giving appropri- 
ate names to their homes. Going east from Richmond down the Nine- 
mile Road, we come to a farm-house with a grove of oaks around it, to 
which the owner has given the name of Fair Oaks. A short distance far- 
ther, across the railroad, at the junction of the IS^ine-mile Road with the 



248 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

staiyc-road leading from AVilliamsbiirg, we come to Seven Pines, so named 
because seven tall pines rear their stately trunks and wave their green 
plumes above a planter's home. 

Mr. Echo lives in the house a few rods west of the junction of the 
two roads ; Mr. Hilliard a little farther east ; Mr. Tignor in the house 
south-west of Seven Pines. Going up the Williamsburg Road a short 
distance towards Kichmond, we come to two houses just alike, standing 
south of the road. The soldiers of the Union army call tliem the " twin 
houses." General Couch's division of Iveyes's corps is at Seven Pines, 
General Casey's at Fair Oaks. Going down the Williamsburg Road two 
miles, we find Kearney's division of Heintzelman's corps. Two miles 
farther brings us to Hooker's division of the same corps. Kearney and 
Hooker have been placed to guard the roads leading south across White 
Oak Swamp, so that the Confederates cannot come round upon their flank 
and rear. 

Through Friday night the Confederate troops are on the march : Hu- 
ger's division down the Charles City Road, with the intention of getting 
in rear of Couch and Casey ; Longstreet's and D. II. Hill's divisions march 
down the Williamsburg Road, to strike Casey in front ; Smith's and Ma- 
gruder's divisions down the Nine-mile Road, to fall upon the right flank of 
Casey near Fair Oaks. General Johnston is with General G. W. Smith 
on the Xine-mile Road. Huger is to begin the attack. When Longstreet 
hears the roar of Huger's cannon he is to strike, and at the same moment 
Smith is to advance and fold back Casey's right. In all, between forty 
and fifty thousand men are advancing to the attack. 

Eight o'clock — nine o'clock — ten. No sound from Huger. He is toiling 
in the mud. Longstreet is waiting impatiently; Casey's pickets capture 
Major Washington, one of General Johnston's aides, and bring him before 
General Keyes. There comes a sound of musketry from the picket line. 
The prisoner's countenance suddenly lights up, which leads General Keyes 
to think that something unusual is going on in the woods in front, and 
orders the troops under arms, and sets men to work with axes to cut 
•down trees. 

Noon — three o'clock. General Hill is out of patience waiting for Hu- 
ger's advance. He hopes to surprise Casey, and instead of sending skir- 
mishers in advance, sweeps on with his whole line. Casey's cannon open. 
Colonel Bailey directs the batteries, and lets fly canister and shells, which 
make havoc in Hill's ranks. 

The assault is upon Naglee's brigade. Suddenly Longstreet appears 
upon the riglit of Hill, getting in rear of Casey's left flank. The Con- 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 249 

federates outnumber the Union men four to one. The firing is quick and 
lieavy. General Sumner, three miles away, hears it, and orders his men 
under arms. 

Casey's soldiers are all new ; this their first battle. 

An aide rides through the woods to Heintzelnian, but misses his way, 
and it is two o'clock before Heintzelnian knows what is going on. 

The Confederates under D. H. Hill come into an open field, and all of 
Casey's cannon open upon them. The fire is so destructive that they 
cannot face it, and they lie down, wliile Longstreet is folding round the 
left flank. For three hours Casey holds his ground, but the line crum- 
bles piecemeal, the troops falling back towards Seven Pines. Colonel 
Bailey spikes the guns which cannot be dragged away, and is shot down 
while doing it. Casey's whole line retreats to that held by General Couch. 
Two regiments of Couch's division are moving up towards the railroad 
to support Naglee, when they see across a field towards the north-west long 
lines of Confederates — the trooj)s of General Smith, who, seeing the gap 
between Couch and Casey, rush in and cut off four regiments, which are 
not captured, but which are driven towards the Chickahominy. 

This is on the right of the Union line. Now, going down to the left, 
we find Longstreet diiving all before him. Casey's troops are fleeing tow- 
ards Seven Pines ; but suddenly a regiment — the Tenth Massachusetts — 
which has been held in reserve advances. It requires nerve and muscle 
to go forward when all others are retreating ; to be a breakwater when 
the flood sweeps all before it; but they hold Longstreet in check. 

" Had the regiment," says Keyes, " been two minutes later they would 
have been too late to occupy that fine position, and it would have been 
impossible to have formed the next and last line of battle, which stemmed 
the tide of defeat and turned it towards a victory." 

Casey has been driven a mile. His camp is in the hands of Longstreet. 
Couch's line has also been folded back. 

Other actors came — General Kearney, with Jameson's and Berry's bri- 
gades. The soldiers lay their knapsacks upon the ground, move out upon 
the left of the Tenth Massachusetts, lie down behind the felled trees, and 
wait for the advance of the Confederates. They are sheltered by the trees, 
and pour in a deadly fire. 

In rear of Seven Pines is the hospital. The sick men, down with fever, 
hear the tide of battle rolling nearer. A soldier rushes in. 

" The rebels are sweeping all before them !" he shouts. 

Lieutenant Bice, of the Eleventh Maine, hears it, springs to his feet, 
and grasps his gun. 



250 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

"All of jon who can hold up your heads follow me!" he cries. Men 
who have not been able to stand spring np at the word. Their cheeks 
are thin, fever is raging in their veins ; bnt a dozen M-eak and tottering 
men follow him. They reach the front. Seven times Lieutenant Rice 
loads and fires, taking deliberate aim ; then a bullet pierces his breast, 
and he falls dead. 

An officer with one hundred men who have been out on picket come 
up the road. 

"Where is mj regiment?" he asks of General Heintzelman. 

" I cannot tell you ; but if it is fighting you want, just go in, for there 
is good fighting all along the line." 

It is almost sunset ; but now another actor comes to take part in the 
drama. When General Sumner heard the first roll of musketry, without 
waiting for orders from McClellan, he issued his own orders to his troops 
to be under arms. He knew" that the water in the river was rising rapid- 
ly, and sent men down to the Grapevine Bridge, as his soldiers called one 
of the bridges wdiicli they had built, to tie it to the trees with ropes. He 
marched Sedgwick's division down to the water's edge. It was late in the 
afternoon before he received orders to cross the river. All the other 
bridges had been swept away by the rising flood. This was afloat, but 
the ropes held it in place. Into the water marched the troops, wading a 
long distance before they reached the bridge. Kirby's battery came, the 
horses sinking in the mud, and the wheels going almost to the hub. The 
horses floundered and splashed in the stream, but the soldiers put their 
shoulders to the wheels, tugged at the traces, lifted the axles, and with 
great exertion the battery reached the other side. 

Gorman's brigade is in advance, followed by Dana's. They move tow- 
ards the sound of the firino-, facino- south-west. At this moment the Con- 
federates, under General G. W. Smith, are moving south-east towards Fair 
Oaks across the field, and through the woods between the Nine-mile Hoad 
and the railroad. The advance of Sumner compels Smith to change his 
line. The sun has gone down, twilight is stealing on, when Kirby wheels 
his cannon into position and sends his shells across the field into the Con- 
federate lines. Gorman's brigade of five regiments charges across the field. 
There are two fences before them, and the Confederates are behind the 
farther one. With a cheer the Union troops dash down the first and rush 
towards the second. There are quick flashes — brighter now than before 
the sun went down. The Confederates are driven. General Johnston, 
while rallying his men, is struck by a piece of shell, and General Smith 
is placed in command of the army by Jefferson Davis, who has come 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 



251 




out with Mr. Mallorj, Secretary of tlie Navy, and General Eobert E. Lee, 
to see the battle. At nine o'clock tlie sounds of the conflict die away, 
and both armies prepare for the morrow.. 

The Confederates feel that they have won a victory. They have driven 
the troops of Casey's division nearly a mile, and are sleeping in the capt- 



252 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

nred tents. They hav'e captured ten gnns, and are picking up more than 
live tliousand muskets. General Johnston, however, has not accomplished 
all that he intended. He expected to crush Kejes's corps and drive Heint- 
zelman's into the Chickahominy; but he has done neither. General Huger 
has disappointed him. This is what a Confederate soldier has written : 

"As 1 rode down through the Held I met Franks, one of Longstreet's 
aides, looking as blue as indigo. 'What is the matter? are you not satis- 
fied with what we have done V 

" ' Satisfied be hanged ! Old Jeff, Mallory, Longstreet, and all the rest 
of them are as mad as thunder. Huger's slowness has spoiled everything. 
He had positive orders to begin the fight in the morning, and he hasn't 
fired a gun to-day.'" 

Huger was not regarded as an officer of much energy, but he had been 
making a long, hard march through the mud, and his men were tired out. 
Had he been in position and attacked vigorously, things might have gone 
badly for the Union army. 

Sometimes there are ludicrous as well as sad scenes on a battle-field. 
Captain Lawton was a Confederate officer on General Longstreet's staff. 
He saw a soldier coming out of the woods with his gun on his shoulder, 
and deliberately going to the rear. " You are going the wrong way," said 
the captain. The soldier did not notice him. " I say you are going the 
wrong way. Turn about, sir," said the captain, drawing his sword. The 
soldier levelled his gun and cocked it. " See here, you little man on that 
horse, I've been in thar. I know what is going on in thar, and if you think 
that you are going to send me in thar again you're mistaken." The cap- 
tain saw the muzzle of the gun aimed at him, the look of determination on 
the soldier's face, and said, " Well, my good fellow, perhaps you will think 
better of it after you have got over your fright." 

" You can go in thar, captain, if you want to ; I haven't the least objec- 
tion." 

The soldier went to the rear, while the captain, the next moment, reeled 
from his horse, struck by a ball, which, however, only disabled him for a 
time. 

At daybreak on Sunday morning an orderly belonging to the Confed- 
erate array rode out of the woods into the Union lines. 

"Where is General Anderson?" he asked. 

" He is here. What do you want of him ?" said a colonel. 

"I have a despatch for him from General Pryor." 

" I will take it. You are my prisoner. Soldiers, guard this man." 

The orderly w-as much astonished to find himself a prisoner. The 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 



253 



despatch gav^e information of the disposition of the Confederate forces 
for the battle soon to begin again. 

During the night the whole of Sumner's corps crossed the Chicka- 
liominy, and at daj'break the troops thus strengthened were ready to re- 
new the battle. Sedgwick remained where he fought on Saturday. Rich- 
ardson's division was in line on his left, and formed in two lines, with 




-•»?' 

'>j. ^•^" 






..-^-^'^^ V 



^■Tvi 



FAIR OAKS. 



French's brigade in front, on the railroad, and Howard and Meagher in 
the second line in his rear. Kearney, Couch, and Hooker, with the rem- 
nants of Casey's division, were in the vicinity of Seven Pines. 

The battle began at five o'clock. At that hour the Confederates are 
discovered south of tlie raih-oad, in the woods, in front of Richardson. 
Pettit's Union battery opens with shells, and the stillness of the Sabbath 
morn is broken by deep reverberations rolling along the Chickahominy. 
From the woods where Pettit sends his shells there comes a volley — 
another — another — and the men begin to drop from Richardson's ranks. 
The Confederates advance and attack French's brigade at sliort rantre. 
For an hour the men stand in their places and deliver their fire upon 
the columns which pushed against them. Reinforcements come up from 
Longstreet's reserves, and Howard is brought up from the second line 
to meet them. His horse is shot, he is wounded in the right arm, and 
is forced to leave the field. 

By the onset of his brigade the Confederate line is broken. Hooker 
conies up the railroad and falls upon the Confederates in front, breaking, 
dividing, and scattering them. Sickels is advancing along the Williams- 



254 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

burg Road. Berry and Jameson are moving over the ground of Saturday, 
between Seven Pines and White Oak Swamp. Richardson and Sedg- 
wick are also in motion. From Fair Oaks to the swamp south of Seven 
Pines the Union line advances over the bloody field. It is like the swing- 
ing of a gate, with i.o hinges near Fair Oaks, and reaching past Seven 
Pines to White Oak Swamp. 

The Confederates have failed in what they attempted, and are retreat- 
ing, with broken, demoralized ranks, to Richmond. The road is filled with 
fugitives. Ileintzelmau and Sumner press on until they are within four 
miles of the city. 

" I have no doubt but we might have gone right into Richmond," says 
General Ileintzelman. 

"I think that if the army had pressed after the enemy with great 
vigor we should have gone to Richmond," is the opinion of General 
Keyes. 

''They (the Federals) missed an opportunity of striking a decisive 
blow. These opportunities never return," writes Prince De Joinville, of 
France, who was with McClellan when he recalled the troops from their 
pursuit and established his lines as they were on the morning of Sat- 
urday. 

The loss on the Union side was live thousand seven hundred and thir- 
ty-seven. The Confederate loss, as reported in Smith's, Longstreet's, and 
Ilill's divisions, was six thousand seven hundred and eighty-three. Whit- 
ing s division also suffered severely, so that the entire Confederate loss was 
nearly eight thousand. 

There was consternation in Richmond. The city was full of stragglers. 
Long lines of ambulances came in filled with wounded. People hastening 
to the cars, expecting that ere long the Union soldiers would be march- 
ing into the city. 

General McClellan had two corps north of the Chickahominy which 
he might have swung down upon the city while the victorious corps 
which had driven back the Confederates pressed on ; but he had no plan 
except to besiege the city, and the great o^iportunity went by, never again 
to return to him. 

After the battle of Fair Oaks a month passed before anything of im- 
portance happened around Richmond. General McClellan was building 
bridges across the Chickahominy and roads through the swamps. The 
soldiers were cutting down trees and throwing up intrenchments. There 
were rainy, hot, and sunshiny days. Sickness came. The hospitals were 
full of men down with the fever. General McClellan called loudly for re- 



THE PENI^^SULAR CAMPAIGN. 255 

inforcements, and General McCalFs division of Pennsylvania reserves was 
sent to him. 

The Confederates had a large division of cavahy, commanded by Gen- 
eral Stuart, who stai'ted north of Riclimond on the night of June 13th, 
rode east, came suddenly upon a party of Uniou. ct^alry at Old Church, 
and captured it. He readied the Pamunky River, burned two schooners 
and fourteen wagons, and then pushed on to the railroad at Tunstall's Sta- 
tion and waited for a train, which came down the road, going east. The 
engineer saw the Confederate cavalry on both sides the track. What 
should he do ? Should he stop ? No ; he w^ould drive on faster. lie 
pulled the throttle. The cars were filled with sick and wounded men. 
The cavalrymen began to lire. The bullets whistled past the engineer's 
head. A few of the men in tlie cars were wounded, but the train thun- 
dered past, and reached White House in safety. 

General Stuart moved "^n, crossed the Chickahominy, came upon a 
Union hospital, captured and paroled the sick men, crossed White Oak 
Swamp, and made his way to Pichmond. He had trotted round the Union 
army. It was a brave and daring ride, and won for General Stuart a great 
j-eputation. General McClellan saw that some morning he might find his 
communications with York River cut off, and began to think about doing 
what he might have done after tlie battle of Williamsburg — make the 
James River his line of communication. 

The dividing of the army — having one portion south and another north 
of the Chickahominy — the failure to follow np the victory at Seven Pines, 
and the ride of Stuart, were unfortunate affairs for General McClellan. 
He was at the head of an army of volunteers — men who were accustomed 
to think for themselves, and who, before entering the army, had been in 
the habit of expressing their opinions, and who now discussed his general- 
ship around their bivouac fires. It was mortifying to think that a body 
of cavalry could ride around an army of one hundred thousand men. 

General Johnston having been wounded, Jefferson Davis appointed 
Robert E. Lee commander of the Confederate army. He was born in Vir- 
ginia. His father was an officer under Washington durinoj the Revolu- 
tion. General Lee graduated at West Point in 1829, was chief engineer 
of General AVool's brigade in Mexico. He was a great favorite of General 
Scott. He was superintendent at West Point several 3-ears. Probably it 
was through the infiuence of General Scott tliat he was made a colonel in 
the L'nited States Army in March, 1861, just before the war began. He 
commanded the marines at Harper's Ferry when John Brown was capt- 
ured. When Virginia seceded, he resigned his commission, left the old 



256 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

flag, went to Richmond, and on April 22d was appointed by tlie Governor 
of the State to command the Virginia troops. In accepting tlie command 
he said : " Trusting in Almiglity God, an approving conscience, and the 
aid of my fellow-citizens, I devote myself to the aid of my native State, in 
whose behalf alone will I ever draw my sword." General Lee believed 
the doctrine taught by Calhoun, that the supremacy of the State was supe- 
rior to tliat of the Nation. He did not see that in the sequence of events 
the sovereignty of the State would be swe2:)t away by the Confederacy, 
He was sent by Governor Letcher to the valley of the Kanawha. He had 
accomplished little there, and had been recalled to advise in military affairs 
at E-ichmond. He had promised to serve his State only, but on June 3d 
he was in command of the Confederate army. He was intimately ac- 
quainted with the whole country between Richmond and Washington, for 
he was born on the banks of the Rappahannock, in Westmoreland County, 
and was owner of the beautiful home, Arlington, overlooking the city of 
Washington ; had ridden time and again over the country between Wash- 
ington and Richmond, and knew every stream and road. He was fifty- 
three, in the maturity of all his powers ; a refined, courteous, kind-hearted 
gentleman, respected and beloved by all who knew him. Such the com- 
mander with whom General McClellan had to deal. 

General Lee resolved to reinforce his army by bringing Jackson from 
the Shenandoah ; not to confront McDowell, who was at Fredericks- 
burg, but to fall upon one wing of McClellan's divided army. The 
Union army was not only divided by a river, but it reached from Hanover 
Court-house to White Oak Swamj), a distance of more than twenty miles. 

General Stonewall Jackson was at Port Republic, in the Shenandoah 
Valley. On the evening of June 18th his troops began to move east. 
They did not know whither they were going, for Jackson was accustomed 
to keep his own counsels. On tlie same day the troops of General Whit- 
ing's division, at Richmond, received orders to be ready to move. They 
were informed that they were going in the cars to reinforce Jackson. 

On Belle Isle, in the river James, at Richmond, were a large number 
of Union prisoners who were to be exchanged. The day before they were 
to come north a train of cars filled with Confederate troops stopped a while 
in front of the prisoners. 

" We are going up to join Jackson," said the Confederates. 

The same day a man who pretended to be a Frenchman came into 
McDowell's lines at Fredericksburg. " Fifteen thousand men have left 
Richmond to join Jackson," he said. 

"A large body of troops have joined Jackson," was the despatch sent 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 257 

by General Sigel, out beyond Manassas, to Wasliington. What was the 
meaning of it ? Was Jackson going to march upon Washington ? Gen- 
eral Ilalleck and Secretary Stanton knew not wliat to make of it. 

Let us go witli General Whiting, commanding the division of Confed- 




GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 



erates, on board the train, up to Lynchburg, where the cars are switched 
north ; from thence we ride to Gordonsville, thence east to the town of 
Frederickshall, on the Yirgijiia Central Eailroad. It has been a round- 
about journey. 
17 



25S DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

General Lee's lieadquarters were out on the Meclianicsville Road, north- 
east of Richmond. At noon on Monday, June 23d, the officers of Lee's 
staff saw a man covered with dust ride up and .wearily dismount. He was 
in citizen's dress. It was Jackson, who had ridden fifty-two miles during 
the morning. He had laid aside his uniform and had come on a military 
pass, that none might know him. Although weary and exhausted, he 
would only drink a glass of milk. General Lee had called the command- 
ers of four divisions together to lay before them his plan for attacking 
JVIcClellan. They were Jackson, Longstreet, A. P. Hill, and D. H. Hill. 
" Your four divisions are to make the attack ujjon the troops north of the 
Chickahominy. I have sent Whiting's division to reinforce Jackson, and 
have allowed the Richmond papers to announce that large reinforcements 
have been sent to enable Jackson to drive the Union troops out of the 
valley and to move on Washington. McClellan receives the Richmond 
papers regularly." 

General Lee left the four commanders to settle upon a plan of attack. 
Jackson would have much the longest march to make. He would be 
ready, he said, to attack at daylight on the 26th. On June 25tli Jackson, 
with Whiting's trooj^s, is at Ashland, twenty miles north of Richmond. 
On the morning of the 26th General Lee starts with his whole army, ex- 
cept twenty-five thousand men, under Magruder, left to defend Richmond. 
General Branch's division marches due north up the Brook Turnpike ; 
General A. P. Hill marches north-east over the Mechanicsville Turnpike ; 
while Longstreet and D. H. Hill march east to strike tlie Chickahominy at 
Xew Bridge. 

General Fitz-John Porter commanded the Union t)-oops north of the 
Chickahominy. A little stream comes down from the north — a branch 
of the Chickahominy — upon which Mr. Ellison has a mill a mile south- 
east of the little cluster of houses called Mechanicsville. The road from 
Mechanicsville to New Bridge crosses the stream by the mill. General 
Seymour's brigade is standing on the east bank, facing west, near the 
mill ; farther up the stream is General Reynolds's brigade ; still farther 
up are Griffin's and Martindale's. 

It is past noon when the cannon of A. P. Hill and Branch open fire 
in front of the Union line, but it is three o'clock before the Confederates 
are in position to begin the battle. General Porter has cut down trees 
and built breastworks. His line is well protected. All through the after- 
noon the artillery on both sides hurl shells and solid shot across the stream. 
In vain are all the efforts of Hill and Branch to move the Union troops 
from their position. They assault the L^nion lines, but are driven back 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 



259 



with great slaughter. McClellan receives startling news — that Jackson is 
sweeping round to get in rear of Porter and cut off communications M'itli 
York River. Porter must not only fall back, but the whole army must 
retreat to James Kiver. 

As you go east from the New Bridge Poad yon come to the farm of 
Mr. Ilogan. Farther on you descend a steep hill and come to Powhite 
Creek, where the water is slowly turning the wheel of Dr. Gaines's grist- 
mill. Ascending the bank on the other side, and riding a short distance, 
we come to a cluster of houses which make up the hamlet of New Cold 
Harbor. A large gum-tree stands on the south side of the road. As yon 
rest beneath the tree you are on the spot where General Lee stood durino- 
the battle fought on June 2Ttli, and known as the battle of Gaines's Mills. 




MECHANICSVILLE, 1SG2. 



Going due south, and crossing another little stream which trickles west, 
then south, and south-east to the Chickahominy, a mile brings us to the 
farm-house of Mr. "Watts, surrounded by a grove of trees, with a chimney 
at one end. Beneath the trees we find General Fitz-Jolm Porter, who has 
been placed in command of the ITnion troops on the north bank of the 
Chickahominy. He has removed his own quarters to the south side. Gen- 
eral Porter has cut down the trees along the bank of the little rivulet, and 
has thrown up rifle-pits and intrenchments. He is to hold the enemy in 
check while General McClellan makes preparations for a retreat to James 
River. He has thirty thousand men against nearly seventy thousand Con- 
federates. Commencing on the creek near the Chickahominy, we see on 
our right hand General Morrill's division, with Butterfield's, Martindale's, 



260 



DRUxM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 











^^■^^^m^M^'^ 



u 



WATTS S HOUSE. 



and Griffin's brigades. Upon tlie other side of tlie stream are the di- 
visions of Longstreet, A. P. Hill, and AVhiting. 

General Griffin's brigade is south of the road which comes down from 
Cold Harbor. ]^orth of the road is General Sykes's division of regulars, 
composed of Warren's, Cliapnian's, and Buchanan's brigades, confronted 
by E well's, D. H. Hill's, and Jackson's divisions. General Porter's second 
line at the beginning of the battle is composed of McCalFs division, sta- 
tioned near the centre, in rear of Griffin. 

Late in the day Slocum's division of Sumner's corps crosses the Chick- 
ahominy and takes position in rear of Sykes's. 

It is a hot, sultry day. General Lee is at Hogan's plantation, near 
New Cold Harbor, sitting beneath the portico of the farm-house absorbed 
in thought. He is neatly dressed in a gray uniform buttoned to the 
throat. Longstreet is sitting in an old chair at the foot of the steps, be- 
neath the trees, eating a lunch, with his feet against a tree, his uniform 
faded and torn, buttons missing, and his boots old and dusty. Gregg, 
AVilcox, Pryor, Featherstone, and other generals are there waiting for Jack- 
son, who has been marching hard all the morning to get into position. A 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 



263 



courier comes down the Cold Harbor Road, delivers a message to Lee, who 
mounts his liorse and rides away to New Cold Harbor. 

It is just two o'clock in the afternoon when Lee is ready to begin the 
attack. There has been a cannonade all along the line north and south 
of the Chickahomiuy. Magruder, on the south side, has instructions to 
make a grand demonstration, as if he were going to attack McClellan. It 
is his intention to keep him from sending troops to Porter's aid. 

Lee intends to make a grand onset and sweep Porter into the Chicka- 
horainy. Under cover of a fire from the artillery, A. P. Hill begins the 
attack upon Griffin and Martindale. The Confederate infantry advances 




NEW COLD HARBOR, 1S62. 



through the belt of timber and descends the ravine. From the Union 
rifle-pits there are sudden flashes and quick spurts of flame, and the battle- 
cloud becomes thick and heavy. 

It would require many pages to make a full record of the terrible com- 
bat. How Longstreet urged his men into the woods ; how brigade after 
brigade marched against Martindale, Griffin, and Butterfield, only to fall 
back with broken and shattered ranks ; how the ground became strewn 



264 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

with the dead and wounded ; how men in the opposing armies fired into 
one anotlier's faces and fell almost into one another's arms, mingling their 
life-blood in one crimson stream ; how Jackson pressed on over the plain, 
urging his men nearer and nearer; how the Pennsylvania Heserves went 
np to aid the regulars ; how couriers dashed through the woods over to 
General McClellan, asking for reinforcements; how Slocum's division went 
over, reached the field, and held in check the dark masses forming upon 
the flank of the regulars and reserves. 

The hours hung heavilj^ Three o'clock — four o'clock — five o'clock — 
and no break in the line. Thirty-five thousand against seventy ! But 
the pressure is terrible. French's and Meagher's brigades, of Sumner's 
corps, are ordered across the Chickahominy. Six o'clock ; the struggle 
is fiercer than ever. Every regiment is brought to the front on both 
sides. The artillery still thunders, but the Union infantry are ont of am- 
munition. Longstreet has been hurled back as often as he has advanced, 
and so have A. P. Hill and D. H. Hill ; l)ut Jackson is working towards 
the Chickahominy. Sykes's men, who have been facing north, are obliged 
to face east to meet Jackson's troops, coming from Old Cold Harbor. 
Union soldiers begin to leave the ranks and move towards the rear. There 
is a desperate rush from Jackson's brigades, and the Union line gives 
way. 

If there were a fresh division, or a brigade even, at hand the tide 
might be stopped ; but no reinforcements are at hand. There are fifty 
thousand men upon the southern bank of the river, but General McClel- 
lan is afraid that Magruder will make an attack, and sends no additional 
troops to Porter. 

The regulars and Pennsylvania Reserves are worn out ; their ammuni- 
tion is nearly gone. They can have no more support, but at this mo- 
ment, after they have held at bay for four hours a superior force, they 
are called upon to withstand the last gi-and charge of Jackson. 

AVhiting's Confederate division advances ; he is received with grape 
and canister. His line halts, wavers, almost breaks ; but Jackson, Whit- 
ing, Hood, and McLaws urge the men to push on. They leap across the 
ravine, halt a moment, sheltered by the bank above them from the fire of 
the Union batteries, and then storm the breastwork and seize the guns. 
There is a short struggle, a falling back of the Union troops, and the battle 
of Gaines's Mills is lost to General McClellan. 

Meagher and French have reached the field, but are too late to save 
the day. Twenty guns have fallen into Lee's hands, and several hun- 
dred prisoners. Cook's cavalry, in the rear, drawing their sabres, dash 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 265 

upon the exultant foe, but it is an ineffectual charge. The retreating 
troops fall in behind French and Meagher, and form a new line nearer the 
Chickahominy as the darkness comes on. They have been driven from 
their first position, but Lee has not power enough to drive them into the 
Chickahominy. He decides to wait till morning before renewing the at- 
tack. 

The morning dawns, and Porter is beyond his reach across the river, 
with all his siege-guns, ammunition, and supplies. 

How near Lee came to losing the battle rtiay be seen by the following 
extract from the account of a correspondent of the Richmond Whig : 

" It was absolutely necessary that we should carry their line ; and to do 
this, regiment after regiment, and brigade after brigade, was successivel_y 
led forward. Still, our repeated charges — gallant and dashing though they 
were — failed to accomplish the end, and our troops, still fighting, fell 
steadily back. Thus for more than two mortal hours tlie momentous 
issue stood trembling in the balance. The sun was setting far in the west, 
darkness would soon be upon us, and the point must be carried. At this 
juncture — it was now five o'clock — the division of the gallant Whiting 
hove in sight. On reaching the field their troops rapidly deployed in 
line. The charge was made under the most galling fire I ever witnessed ; 
shot, shell, grape, canister, and ball swept through our lines like a storm 
of leaden hail, and our noble boys fell thick and fast ; and yet, still with 
the irresistible determination of men who fight for all that men hold dear, 
our gallant boj^s rushed on. 

" Suddenly a halt was made ; there was a deep pause, and the line 
wavered from right to left. We now saw the character of the enemy's 
works. A ravine deep and wide yawned before us, while from the other 
side of the crest of the almost perpendicular bank a breastwork of logs 
was erected, from behind which the dastard invaders were jiouring mur- 
derous volleys upon our troops. The pause made by our troops was but a 
brief breathing-space. The voice of McLaws was heard : ' Forward, boys ! 
Charge them!' and with a wild, mad shout our impetuous soldiery dashed 

forward." 

There was not time to take away all the supplies which General 
McClellan had accumulated. Through the night teams were in motion, 
and the trains upon the railroad ran, carrying sick and wounded men and 
provisions to White House. 

On the morning of the 2Sth, Keyes's and Porter's corps started across 
White Oak Swamp, followed by wagons, artillery — fifty heavy siege-guns 
— which McClellan had brought up from Yorktown. At White House 



'206 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Landing, sloops, schooners, barges, and steamboats were departing for York 
River, liastening rapidly away, for no one knew how soon Jackson might 
appear. 

At Savage's Station are barrels of pork, beef, sugar, coffee, boxes filled 
with bread, blankets, boots and shoes, which cannot be removed. They 
are set on fire, and the odor of burning bacon and leather is wafted on the 
summer air. 

Far down the line a black cloud rises heavenward from the bridge 
across the Chickahominy, which has been set on fire. A railroad train 
loaded with cartridges, shot, and shell is standing on the track. The sol- 
diers fire the cars. The engineer pulls the throttle and jumps from the 
engine, and the train whirls down the descending grade. It is two miles 
to the burning bridge. Faster and faster it flies, dashing along the fields, 
over the meadows, through the forest, a trail of fire, a streaming banner 
of flame and smoke. It reaches the bridge, leaps over the abutment, the 
engine going down into the stream, the flaming cars, one after another, 
piling upon it, while from the burning mass the exploding shells scatter 
the fragments far and wide. 

It is Saturday — a joyful day in Kichmond, for the word runs through 
the city that Lee has won a great victory, and that he is about to crush 
McClellan and compel his surrender. The multitude shout and swing 
their hats. But there are sorrowful scenes when the wounded are brought 
in. All the hospitals are filled. Lee has lost more than five thousand men. 

McClellan could not take the thousands of his wounded in the hos- 
pitals to James Itiver. His ambulances were filled, and the long line 
started on its weary journey. One of the chaplains, who was left with 
a corps of surgeons and nurses to care for those that could not be taken, 
gives this account of the heart-rending scene : 

" The officers and soldiers who still lingered with their companions 
now prepared to leave. Many a manly cheek was wet with tears as they 
bade farewell to those whom they never expected to meet again. There 
were many sad partings. Up to this time the disabled had not known 
that they were to be left behind ; when it became manifest that such was 
to be their fate, the scene could not be pictured in human language. 
Some wounded men who were left in their tents struggled through the 
grounds, exclaiming, ' I would rather die than be left in the hands of the 
rebels.' I heard one man cry out, ' O my God ! is this the reward I de- 
serve for all the sacrifices I have made, all the battles I have fought, and 
the agony 1 have endured ?' Some of the younger soldiers wept like chil- 
dren, others turned pale, some fainted." 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 



267 



Among the wounded was Captain Eeed, of Indiana. His company 
was out on the skirmish line. His son William, sixteen years old, with 
patriotic fire in his blood, had enlisted as commissary-sergeant. "When the 
battle- at Savage Station began, he seized a musket, went to the front, but 
was struck down by a bullet. The father wraps him in his blanket, pil- 
lows his head with his coat. 

" Leave me, father, and take care of the men," are the M'ords of 
the boy, and the captain returns to his place, soon to fall Nvith a bul- 
let through his shoulder. When darkness settles down, and the roar of 
battle dies away, they see the lines in blue move away in the dark- 
ness. They are prisoners. The captain surrenders his sword to Colonel 







®R^5^>%e3S 



CAPTAIN REED AND SON. 



Gorman, of the Fourteenth South Carolina, who generously returns it, 
and with great kindness does what he can to relieve their sufferings. 
They are taken to Libby Prison, where the boy gives his life to his 
country. 

Sunday morning dawns. The Union troops still hold the breastworks 
in front of Richmond. Lee does not know what is going on in the Union 
lines. 

Magruder sends out a small force to attack Sumner at the farm of 
Mr. x\llen, but Hazard's and Pettit's batteries, with Sedgwick's division, 
quickly repulse the assault. Lee is reorganizing his ranks, and his sol- 
diers are resting after the victory. LTe does not know how precious the 



268 



DBUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



moments are ; he will learn to-morrow, when he finds that McClellan is 
on his way to James River. 

It is onlj nine miles from Fair Oaks to Malvern Hills, but White Oak 
Swamp lies between, with only two narrow roads across it. There was no 
time to construct new ones. General McClellan must, in changing his 




DIAGRAM OF THE RETREAT. 



base, carry food sufficient to last him a week. The soldiers took three 
days' rations in their haversacks; three days' more were taken in the 
wagons, and twenty-five hundred cattle were driven in advance. 

"While the cannon were still playing on the north si-de of the Chick- 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 269 

a])ominy at Gaines's Mills, tlie wagons were in motion towards White 
Oak Swamp. Strategy in war is not exactly like a game of checkers, 
for in that game one side moves at a time ; but in military oj^erations 
both sides move at the same moment. Strategy is to deceive your oppo- 
nent, and so gain an advantage. 

General Lee had made the movement from Richmond to crush the 
section of the Union army north of the Chickahominy. He had sent 
Jackson far round to strike the railroad and cut off communication with 
York River. He expected to see McClellan abandoning his* lines in front 
of Richmond, and retreating towards Williamsburg. When the sun rose 
on the 2Sth of June he discovered that the Union troops were still along 
the Chickahominy. He was pleased. They were not thinking of re- 
treating. He would let the soldiers rest a day, care for the wounded, 
and then move east, get between McClellan and York River, and turn 
the defeat into a rout. 

General Lee had no suspicion of the movement of the Union army 
to the James. Magruder, with twenty -five thousand, was south of the 
Chickahominy, and thinking that the Union troops were retreating, or- 
dered forward Kershaw's and Griffitirs brigades. They came upon 
French's brigade of Sumner's coi'ps on the farm of Mr. Allen. The Con- 
federates made two charges, but were repulsed with much loss. This was 
about half-past nine in the morning. The army was withdrawing, and 
Sumner fell back to Savage's Station to join Heintzelman ; but through 
some misunderstanding Heintzelman left his position and crossed AVhite 
Oak Swamp without informing Sumner. 

Through the forenoon a mist had hung over the Chickahominy, but 
now it lifted ; and Magruder, finding that there were no Union troops 
before him, pushed forward to strike a second blow. It was four o'clock 
when McLaws's and Magruder's own division approached Savage Station. 
Through the hours of this Sunday the troops of Sumner stood in line 
motionless as statues, guarding the road leading to the swamp, covering 
the retreating army. Brooks's brigade of Franklin's corps also remained. 
With reckless impetuosity, without waiting for any co-operation from 
Jackson, who was repairing the bridges across tlie Chickahominy, Magru- 
der hurls his brigades upon Sumner. But instantly there comes a roll of 
thunder from six Union batteries. 

It was past five o'clock before Magruder opened the battle. An hour 
passed of constant artillery firing ; then the Confederates advanced across 
the wide and level plain. 

There was a stream of fire from Sumner's line — a steady outpouring 



270 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

of deadly volleys, with answering volleys from the Confederate lines. 
Sumner's batteries left off firing shell and threw canister, and the lines 
M'hicli had advanced so triumphantly were sent in confusion across the 
field. Longstreet and Jackson, under cover of the gathering darkness, 
once more pushed on their reluctant troops. Sumner brought up his 
reserve brigades. It was a short, sharp struggle — a wild night tem- 
pest — the roaring of fifty cannon and twenty thousand muskets. The 
evening was calm ; not a breath of air stirred the leaves of the 
trees. 

" Who are you ?" asked an officer of the Fifth Yermont, dimly seeing 
a regiment in the darkness. There was a momentary silence, and then 
the question came back, 

" Who are you ?" 

"The Fifth Vermont," 

" Let them have it, boys I" were the words of command shouted by the 
Confederate officer. The Yermonters heard it. There was no flinching. 
Instantly their rifles came to their cheeks. 

There were two broad flashes of. light, two rows of dead and wounded. 
But the Yermonters held their ground, and the Confederated disappeared 
in the gloom of night. 

Following the wagons were thousands of sick and wounded Union sol- 
diers working their way towards the swamp, urged on by hope of escajiing 
the liands of the Confederates. It was heart-rending to hear the words 
of those who were too badly wounded to be moved, or who could not be 
taken away. 

General McClellan sent a last despatch to Secretary Stanton : " If I 
save this army now, I tell you plainly that I owe no thanks to you or to 
any other person in Washington. You have done your best to sacrifice 
this army." 

It was regarded as very discourteous. It was a grave offence to 
charge Pi'esident Lincoln and the Secretary of War with seeking to de- 
stroy the Union army. 

We need not wonder that General McClellan felt very sore when, 
instead of marching towards Richmond, he was moving away from it. 
He had been defeated, and defeat is hard to bear. 

"Glendale" is the euphonious name given by Mr. Nelson to his farm, 
located two miles south of White Oak Swamp. It is a place where sev- 
eral roads meet — from the north, the Swamp Road ; from the east, the 
Long Bridge Road ; from the south, the road leading to Malvern Hills ; 
from the south ■ west, the Newmarket Road ; from the north - west, the 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 271 

Charles Citj Road, leading to Richmond. There are farm-houses, groves, 
ravines, wheat-fields waving with grain. There is a church ujjon the Mal- 
vern Road, and west of it a half-mile the mansion of Mr. Frazier, where 
the Confederate lines were formed on the 30th of June. 

At sunrise all the divisions of the Union army were south of the 
swamp. Richardson and Smith, with Naglee's brigade of Casey's di- 
vision, were guarding the road through the swamp ; Slocum was on the 
Charles City Road, north-west of the church; Kearney was between 
that road and the Newmarket Road ; McCall was on the N^ewmarket 
Road, with Hooker and Sedgwick behind him, near the church ; Porter 
and Keyes were at Malvern with the trains. 

Lee divided his army. Jackson, D. II. Hill, and Ewell followed 
IMcClellan across the Swamp Road, while A. P. Hill, Longstreet, Huger, 
Magruder, and Holmes made all haste down the Charles City Road from 
Richmond, to strike McClellan on the flank and divide his army. The 
President of the Confederacy went out with A. P. Hill to see the Union 
army cut to pieces. 

Jackson reached the bridge across the sluggish stream in the swamp, 
but it was torn up, and on the southern bank stood Smith's and Richard- 
son's divisions, with Hazard's, Ayers's, and Pettit's batteries. Jackson 
brought up all his guns. There was a fierce artillery fight, lasting through 
the day. Jackson succeeded in getting a small infantry force across tow- 
ards evening, but it was not strong enough to make an attack, and noth- 
ing came of all his efforts to harass the rear. 

During the afternoon the Union pickets on the Charles City Road dis- 
covered A. P. Hill's troops filing off from the road west of Frazier's farm 
towards the south. The Confederates went across the fields and through 
the woods to the Newmarket Road. "While the main body was thus tak- 
ing position, a small force of infantry and a battery opened fire upon Slo- 
cum ; but he had cut down the forest in his front, forming an impassable 
barrrer, so that he was secure from attack. 

General McCall formed his division of six thousand men, with Meade's 
brigade north of the road, Seymour's south of it, and Reynolds's— com- 
manded in this battle by Colonel Simmons — in reserve. He had five bat- 
teries in front of his infantry, pointing down a gentle slope upon an open 
field. 

It Avas half-past two before A. P. Hill was ready to make the attack. 
He threw out two regiments as skirmishers, which advanced upon 
McCall's lines, but they were repulsed. Hill had twelve brigades : six of 
his own and six of Longstreet's. Magruder and linger had not arrived. 



272 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Brigade after brigade advanced, but recoiled before the direct fire of tlie 
Uiiioii batteries, sustained by tlie infantry. 

" The tliunder of the cannon, the cracking of the musketry from tliou- 
sands of combatants, mingled with screams from the wounded and dying, 
were terrific to the ear and to the imagination," says a Southern corre- 
spondent. 

" Volleys upon volleys streamed across our front in such quick suc- 
cession that it seemed impossible for any human being to live under 
it," writes another Confederate correspondent. 

Five o'clock I The battle has raged two hours and a half, sustained 
wholly by McCall. The Confederates desist from their direct attack in 
front, and throw all their force upon Seymour's left, south of the road. 
McCall sends over the Fifth and Eighth regiments from his second line. 

" Change front with the infantry and artillery," is his order. 

Hill is pushing along his left flank to gain the rear of McCall, who 
orders a charge, which is executed witli a promptness and vigor sufticient 
to check the advancing troops. But his line has becouie disordered by 
the charge. Hill hurries up his reserve brigades, which fire while ad- 
vancing. 

The gunners of tlie German batteries are seized with a panic and leave 
their pieces, while the drivers dash ofl: to the rear, breaking through the 
infantry and trampling down the men. 

The sun is still an hour and a half above the horizon. The Fifty-fifth 
and Sixtieth Virginia (Confederate troops) charge upon Randall's but- 
tery, shooting the few gunners who remain, and capture the cannon. 
McCall tries to rally the fugitives which break through Hooker's and 
Sumner's lines. Hooker has G rover's brigade on the right, Carr's in 
the centre, and Sickles's on the left. The Sixteenth Massachusetts and 
Sixty -ninth Pennsylvania, of Sedgwick's division of Sumner's corps, 
join Hooker on the right. They pour in a fire upon the left fiank of 
the Confederates. Along Sumner's front are five batteries — thirty can- 
non in all. 

On the side of the Union troops there are fifteen thousand infantry ; 
on the Confederate side more than twenty thousand. But the Union 
troops have tiie advantage of position. They are comjjactly formed. The 
thirty guns, double-shotted, make great havoc in the Confederate ranks. 
Grover's brigade drives the Confederate troops and recaptures Randall's 
battery. It is an irresistible charge, made with such power that a por- 
tion of the Confederate troops flee in consternation towards Richmond. 
The officers try to rally them, but vain are their efforts. 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 



273 



" Many of tlie officers," writes a Southern correspondent, " wept like 
children. Everything seemed lost, and a general de23ression came over all 
liearts. Batteries dashed past in headlong flight. Ammunition, hospital, 
and supply M'agons rushed along and swept the troops away from the 
field. In vain the most frantic exertions, entreaty, and self-sacrifice of the 
staff-officers. The troops had lost their foothold." 

The arrival of General Magruder's division alone saved Hill from a 
disastrous rout, and the sun went down upon the gory field lost to Lee, 
for he had suffered a severe repulse. He had committed a great blunder 
in dividing his army. Jackson, with more than one-half of the troops, 
had been easily kept at bay along the sluggisJi stream winding through 
the swamp. Instead of crushing McClellan, Lee had suffered a signal 
defeat, dinnning the glory of the victory at Gaines's Mills. 




MALVERN HILL. 



Two miles south of Glendale, overlooking James River, rise the Mal- 
vern Hills, a beautiful swell of land sloping towards the north. The 
Crewe house, built of red brick, surrounded by elm -trees, is on the 
hill. West of it are the Strawberry Plains, through which winds a little 
brook. 

The north-west side of the hill is sharp and steep, and General Bar- 
nard places the batteries one above another, with the heavy siege-guns on 
the summit. East of the hill towards Harrison's Landing is the house of 
Mr. Binford. 
18 



274: DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

General Fitz-Jolm Porter was placed in command. On the west side, 
overlooking the plain, was Porter's corps ; General Sykes's division on 
the extreme left, nearest James River. Behind these two divisions was 
Couch's, on the side of the hill. 

Kext in line was Ileintzelman, with Kearney on the left and Hooker 
on the right. Beyond IJeintzelman was Sumner's corps, reaching to Mr. 
Binford's house. Behind Sumner was Franklin, while Keyes was still 
farther east, near Mr. Carter's mill. Porter's troops faced west, Keyes's 
east, the army being a semicircle. 

At daybreak Jackson, Ewell, and D. II. Hill, are in motion crossing 
White Oak Swamp. They are to attack the north-east side of Mal- 
vern, by the Binford house, while Magruder and Huger are to attack the 
north-west side. A. P. Hill and Longstreet's corps have suffered so terri- 
bly that they cannot go into the battle. 

Through the forenoon the Confederate troops are marching to get 
into position. Lee intends, by a grand assault from all sides, to produce 
a panic in the Union lines, capture the cannon, and make a complete 
victory. 

Four o'clock. Armistead's brigade, of Huger's division, leads the as- 
sault. The beginning of the cannonade is to be the signal for Jackson. 
Magruder's cannon open fire, but are soon silenced and driven from their 
positions b)^ the superior fire from the semicircle of batteries on the 
slopes of Malvern. Armistead pushes on with spirit, but his brigade is 
cut to pieces by shells, by volleys from Howe's brigade, and his troops 
are hurled back, disorganized and broken. The flags of the Fourteenth 
Alabama are lost. 

Magruder is angry. He was blamed yesterday for not being on hand 
when wanted ; and now, without judgment, orders up regiment after regi- 
ment singly to attack Porter, but every attack is repulsed. 

The wind is north-east, and the roar of the conflict does not reach 
Jackson. From four till six o'clock his troops wait. D. H. Hill is impa- 
tient. Lee wonders why Jackson does not begin. The wind lulls at 
nightfall, and the rattle of musketry and the reverberations of the can- 
nonade fall on the ears of Hill. 

The Confederate troops come out from the woods in which they 
have been standing, rush with a yell upon Kearney's division, only to be 
rolled back as the waves are broken upon the rocky ledges of the ocean 
shore. 

There is little concert of action on the Confederate side. The plan 
has miscarried. Malvern is aflame with the flashes of more than one 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 



275 



Jiundred guns, hurling solid shot and shell into the Confederate lines. 
General Hunt, commanding the Union artillery, keeps the batteries in 
constant play, while the gunboats in the river send shot and shell across 
Strawberry Plains. General McClellan is on the Galena^ and each gen- 
eral manages his own corps as seems to him best. 

The sun goes down, and night comes on. At nine o'clock the battle 
ends. Lee has suffered another repulse, with great loss, 

"Retreat to Harrison's Landing,"' is the order from McClellan. It is 
six miles down the river, and during the night the army makes its way to 
tliat point, where steamboats are arriving with supplies. 

" Although," says General McClellan, in his report, " the battle of 
Malvern was a complete victory, it was necessary to fall back still far- 




TUE GUJsBOATS AX MALVEKN HILL. 



ther, in order to reach a point where our supplies could be brought to us 
with certainty." 

That was not the opinion of some of his officers. General Martin dale 
was so angry that he shed tears. 

" I, Philip Kearney," shouted that general, " enter my solemn protest 
against this order to retreat. We ought, instead, to march into Richmond. 
\\\ full view of all the responsibility of such a declaration, I say to you 
all, such an order can only be prompted by cowardice or treason." 

In the morning the Union army is at Harrison's Landing, while the 
Confederate army is moving towards Richmond. During the seven days' 
fighting McClellan has lost about sixteen thousand, and Lee twenty thou- 
sand men. 



276 DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

The campaign for tlie capture of Richmond was over. It was un- 
dertaken against the judgment of President Lincohi, who could see with 
his plain common -sense what General McClellan did not comprehend — 
that the Confederate army would be stronger at Richmond than it pos- 
sibly could be at Centreville ; that it would be easier to strike a blow 
near Washington than at Richmond, far from the base of supplies, and in 
the enemy's country. 



CONFEDEKATE MANASSAS CAMPAIGN. 



277 



CHAPTER XII. 



CONFEDERATE MANASSAS CAMPAICxN. 



T^'^IIE campaign of McClellan against Richmond liad failed. The Union 
-■- army was at Harrison's Landing, inactive, dispirited, wasting with 
sickness. There were rivah-ies and jealousies among the generals. The 
commander-in-chief gave much more of his confidence to Fitz-John Porter 
and Franklin than to Hooker, Heintzelman, and Kearney. Favoritism, 
wherever exercised, in a school or army, where obedience is required, im- 
pairs discipline. It was natural that the colonels, captains, lieutenants, 
and soldiers should also have prejudices either for or against the different 
corps commanders and the commander-in-chief. There was a marked de- 
cline in the discipline of the army, and a great deal of murmuring, espe- 
cially on the part of some of the officers. 




HARRISON S LANDING 



Up to this time the military campaigns had been made at hap-hazard. 
There had been no head. It was seen that there must be some control- 
ling mind, and General Halleck was called to Washington by President 
Lincoln to give direction to military movements. 



278 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

On June 2Gtli Major-general Pope was appointed by President Lincoln 
commander of an army along the Rappahannock. He had three corps : 
Sigel's, Banks's, and McDowell's — in all, about forty-nine thousand men. 
General Pope was educated at West Point, was in the battle of Buena 
Vista, and had rendered excellent service at New Madrid, on the Mis- 
sissippi, and in the capture of Island No. 10. 

When the war began, President Lincoln called for seventy-live thou- 
sand soldiers. 

" Where will he get them ?" everybody asked ; but under that call 
ninety-one thousand offered themselves. In July, 1861, he called for live 
hundred thousand, and more than seven hundred thousand enlisted. More 
troops were needed, not only for Virginia, but on the Mississippi, in North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas — in all the seceded States. 

In July, 18G2, he called for three hundred thousand more. The peo- 
ple, instead of being disheartened by the disasters that had come upon the 
Army of the Potomac, hastened to fill up the ranks. All over the North, 
in every town and village, once more was heard the drum-beat. Regi- 
ments were forming ; men who had not thought of enlisting hastened to 
enroll their names, bidding farewell to friends, to give their lives for their 
country if need be. Not only three hundred thousand, but four hundred 
and twenty-one thousand enlisted. This was the song they sang, written 
by William Cullen Bryant : 

"We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more, 
From Mississippi's winding stream and from New England's shore; 
We leave our ploughs and workshops, our wives and children dear, 
With hearts too full for utterance, with but a silent tear ; 
We dare not look behind us, but steadfastly before — 
We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more. 

"If you look all up our valleys, where the growing harvests shine, 
You may see our sturdy farmer boys fast forming into line ; 
And children from their mothers' knees are pulling at the weeds, 
And learning how to reap and sow against their country's needs ; 
And a farewell group stands weeping at every cottage door — 
We are coming. Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more. 

"You have called us, and we're coming, by Richmond's bloody tide. 
To lay us down for freedom's sake, our brothers' bones beside ; 
Or from foul treason's savage grasp to wrench the murderer's blade. 
And in the face of foreign foes its fragments to parade. 
Six hundred thousand loyal men and true have gone before — 
We are coming. Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more." 



CONFEDERATE MANASSAS CAMPAIGN. 279 

Confederate troops were hastening to reinforce the army of Lee. Ne- 
groes who came into McClellan's lines liad great stories to tell of the im- 
mense arm J in Richmond. He was calling for reinforcements, and blamed 
the authorities as having brought about the failure of the campaign by 
taking away McDowell from his control. He wrote this to Secretary 
Stanton : " If I cannot fully control all his troops I want none of them, 
but Avould prefer to fight the battle with what I have, and let others be 
responsible for results." From the beginning McClellan believed that Lee 
had two hundred thousand men. 

There were three separate armies in Virginia besides McClellan's : 
one in the lower Shenandoah, under Banks ; one in the upper Shenan- 
doah, under Fremont ; and one at Fredericksburg, under McDowell. 
There was no unity of plans, and on June 26tli they were placed un- 
der the command of General Pope, wdio issued an unfortunate ad- 
dress. 

"I have come," he said, "from the AVest, where we have always seen 
the backs of our enemies ; from an army whose business it has been to 
seek the adversary, and to beat him when found ; whose policy has been 
attack, and not defence." 

The officers and men thought that he was drawing unjust comparisons 
between the soldiers of the East and those of the AVest. Such was not 
his intention, but he did not reflect how thej would receive such an ad- 
dress. They knew that they were brave, and an imputation that they 
were inferior to Western troops was very offensive. 

General Halleck directed General Pope to concentrate his army and 
cut the railroads leading west from Richmond. Such a movement would 
compel General Lee to send away some of his troops. 

It had that effect. Lee sent Jackson with his own corps and other 
troops up to Louisa Court-house the day after Pope assumed command. 
On June 27th he sent A. P. Hill's division. In his letter to Jackson he 
said, "These troops will exceed eighteen thousand men. Your command 
ought certainly to number that amount." This made Jackson's army 
thirt^^-six thousand besides the cavalry under Stuart. 

What should be done ? It was a perplexing question at Washing- 
ton. General McClellan was calling for reinforcements, but there were 
no troops to send him. His campaign had been a failure, and Secretary 
Stanton and General Halleck, and the country generally, had lost confi- 
dence in him as a commander. General Halleck saw that cpiite likely Lee 
would throw an overwhelming force on Pope, and a portion of the troops 
under Burnside were hurried from North Carolina to reinforce him. The 



280 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Confederate Government was conscripting men to fill up the ranks of the 
army. Something must be done. 

On July 24:th General Halleck went to Harrison's Landing to see 
McClellan, who asked for fifty thousand more troops. "■ I am not author- 
ized to promise you tnore than twenty thousand," said Halleck. " I will 
make the attempt to take Richmond with that number," was the reply. 
General Halleck returned to Washington. Upon his arrival, there came 
a despatch from McClellan that he must have thirty-five thousand. It was 
not possible to send that number. 

There was only one thing to be done : to withdraw the army from 
the James to some position where it could co-operate w^ith the army under 
Pope, and it was decided to bring it to Acquia Creek, on the Potomac, 
below Washington. " Send away your sick as fast as you can," was the 
despatch to McClellan July 30th. On August 3d Halleck ordered the 
withdrawal of the whole army, but McClellan, instead of at once obeying, 
sent a protest. " I fear it will be a fatal blow," he said. " Here, directly 
in front of this army, is the heart of the rebellion ; it is here we should 
strike the blow which will determine the fate of this nation. A decided 
victory here, and the military strength of the rebellion is crushed," he said 
to Halleck. He thought that the Union army would be demoralized if 
withdrawn. Not till August 1-ith did the troops take np the line of 
march to Yorktown. Two weeks had been lost. 

It is not strange that he did not like to retrace his steps. Few men 
like to take the back track. It was hard to recognize in any way the hu- 
miliating fact that the movement to Kichmond was a failure. 

About half-way between Orange Court-house and Culpeper Court- 
honse, north of the Rapidan River, is Cedar Mountain, which stands by 
itself, one of the outlying hills of the Blue Ridge. 

It is the first week in Angust. The telegraph informs General Lee 
that Pope is marching south from Culpeper Court-house. The Confedei'- 
ate pickets down by Malvern Hill report that the Union troops are get- 
ting ready to leave Hai-rison's Landing ; that there is a great bustle and 
stir — steamers and schooners departing with supplies, that camps are 
breaking up. General Lee has sent General Jackson north-west with 
twenty-five thousand men to confront Pope. On the 9th of August Jack- 
son is marching np the road leading north across Cedar Mountain. 

General Banks, with about seven thousand five hundred ITnion troops, 
is marching south from Culpeper. Pope sends Colonel Marshall with 
this order : " General Banks is to move to the front immediately, assume 
command of all the force, deploy his skirmishers if the enemy advances, 



CONFEDERATE MANASSAS CAMPAIGN. 281 

and attack liiin immediately as he approaches, and be reinforced from 
liere." 

It was not a written order, bnt General Banks required it to be writ- 
ten out by Colonel Marshall, for a military commander wants to know just 
what he is to do. Was he to advance and attack? No; but if Jackson 
advanced he was to attack him. General Pope sent General Koberts, an 
engineer officer, to select the ground Banks was to hold. General Pope 
ought to have written out exactly and explicitly just what General Banks 
was to do ; but he did not, and it was- the beginning of a series of mistakes. 

It is past noon when General Banks forms his line, the troops facing 
south. They see the mountain before them, and General Augur, com- 
manding a division, files out west of the road, and General Williams east 
of it. Crawford's brigade has the right of the line ; General Geary's 
brigade stands next in line •, then Prince's brigade. General Greene has 
only two small regiments. General Gordon's brigade is held in reserve 
half a mile in rear of Crawford. 

The ground is a gentle slope rising towards the mountain. There are 
corn and wheat fields, clumps of trees, and out on the right, where Craw- 
ford forms his line, there are woods. The wheat has been cut, and is 
standing in shocks. Out in the woods, and far out on both flanks. Gen- 
eral Bayard lias his cavalry skirmishers keeping watch, for it is well 
known that Jackson is advancing. 

It is eleven o'clock when General Jubal Early, commanding the First 
Confederate Brigade, comes out upon the north slope of the mountain 
and beholds Bayard's cavalry. He bi'ings up four guns. He is on much 
higher ground than Bayard. The cavalrymen see white puifs of smoke 
amid the cedars, and hear the shells scream through the air. Bayard places 
Knapp's battery in position. Other batteries come up, and from one 
till half-past three o'clock the artillery firing echoes along the mountain 
sides. 

It is a bold front which Banks presents — so audacious that Jackson 
tliinks the whole of Pope's army is before him, and hesitates about making 
an attack. He has twenty-five thousand men, but supposes that Pope has 
double the number, not for a moment imagining that there is only one 
small division of less than eight thousand. He places Ewell on the east 
side of the road and Winder on the west, with A. P. Hill in the rear of 
Winder. The last-named officer is struck by a shell and killed, and Gen- 
eral Taliaferro takes command of the division. 

AVhat shall General Banks do? Jackson has deployed his line. If 
tlie enemy advances he is to attack. Has Jackson advanced ? Certainly he 



282 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



has advanced from where he was in the morning. General Roberts has se- 
lected the ground which Banks is to hold, but to attack he must necessa- 
rily advance. His nearest support is Ricketts's division, which is nearly 

four miles in his rear. He does 






;'f«ii 




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C' ' I I 1 S'/ CRAWFOBD'AA 




CAMPBELL 



(V 




RONALOV^-^// ^ ^ 

\ ^V&'ftj-^- 'VjALIAFERRO ^ 



V^RINC 



V 



^RE 






\ 



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St_' 



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e^UAfi MOUhiTAlN- 



MAP OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN. 



not know that with less than eight 
thousand he is confronted by twen- 
ty-five thousand. 

It is half-past five, a sultry sum- 
mer afternoon, when Geary and 
Prince, east of the road, and Craw- 
ford out in the woods, west of it, 
march forward with quick steps, 
firing rapidly. It is like the sud- 
den outbreak of a storm. Jack- 
son has not expected to be at- 
tacked, but has been getting ready 
to sweep down upon Banks like a 
hound upon its prey. Crawford's 
men rush through the woods and 
fall suddenly upon the left flank 
of Campbell's brigade. The First Virginia battalion is the first to feel 
the stroke and gives way in confusion. 

" Change front !" is the order to the Forty-second Virginia ; but the 
officer who gives it. Major Logan, falls mortally wounded, and the regi- 
ment breaks. General Garnett is wounded and Lieutenant-colonel Cun- 
ningham killed. Crawford's men, with a cheer, next rash upon Talia- 
ferro's bi'igade, striking it in flank, while Geary and Prince are attacking 
in front, driving it in disorder, 

" All the troops," says Early, " had fallen back, and the enemy was 
advancing up the slope of the hill." There is consternation in the Con- 
fedei'ate lines. A great stream of fugitives is pouring down the road. 
The artillerymen of Winder's battalion are lashing their horses to a run 
to the rear to take new positions. Officers are riding with orders to 
Branch, Pender, and Archer, commanding the brigades of Hill's division. 
Ronald's brigade comes up to confront Crawford and Geary. 

The fresh Confederate troops bear down upon Crawford and Geary, 
and drive them back. The Tenth Maine makes a charge to roll back the 
advancing Confederates. In a few minutes one hundred and seventy-three 
out of four hundred and sixty-one officers and men are killed and wounded. 
A half-hour too late. Banks orders Gordon to attack. His troops go upon 



CONFEDEKATE MANASSAS CAMPAIGN. 283 

the run across the little creek and through the wheat-fields. It is a Lrave 
assault, but a useless sacrifice of men. They are compelled to retreat. 

It is a hard-fought, bloody, useless conflict. In an hour and a half 
1661 Union troops were killed and wounded, and 1314 Confederates. It 
was so audacious a stand on the jjart of the Union troops that Jackson, 
who had expected to march on to Culpeper, turned back and retreated 
across the Rapidan. At Kearnstown, near Winchester, in the Shenan- 
doah, iu 1861, he had been defeated by General Shields and General Kim- 
ball, and here at Cedar Mountain he had come very near being defeated 
by an army not a third the size of his own. lie saw that he could not go 
on to Culpeper, for Pope's entire army would confront him, so he retreat- 
ed to wait for the arrival of reinforcements. 

In June the theatre of war was before Richmond ; in September it 
was to be in front of Washington, around and on the field where the first 
great battle of the rebellion had been fought. • 

Lee consolidated his army into two corps, making Jackson and Long- 
street commanders. D. H. Hill, with a small force, was left to guard 
Richmond. Jackson had fourteen brigades and fourteen batteries — thirty- 
five thousand men ; Longstreet had the divisions of Hood, Anderson, 
Walker, and McLaws — thirty-five thousand ; Stuart commanded the cav- 
alry — five thousand — giving Lee seventy-five thousand in all. 

On the morning of the 15th the brigades of Long^street were at Gor- 
donsville. On the same day the retreating brigades of McClellan were 
marching east over the battle-ground of Williamsburg towards Yorktown 
to take steamers for Acquia Creek and Alexandria. 

It was a very important letter which the Union cavalrymen, under 
General Bayard, captured from a Confederate officer on August 16th — 
a letter from Lee to Jackson, informing him of what he intended to do, 
and how many men he had. General Pope read it, and saw that he 
was to be attacked by an army numbering seventy-five thousand. Gen- 
eral Reno, with two small divisions, had joined him ; but, all told, he had 
only forty-nine thousand men. There was but one thing for him to do — 
fall back north of the Rappahannock and take a position to cover Wash- 
ington, and await the arrival of McClellan's troops. 

General Lee has conceived a brilliant movement. He will hold Long- 
street on the south bank of the Rappahannock, make Pope believe that 
he intends to cross and attack him, while Jackson makes a swift and 
roundabout march to get in the rear of Pope, capture his supplies, and cut 
off his connection with Washington. 

Jackson is on the west bank of the Rappahannock, at Sulphur Springs. 



2Si DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

At daybreak, August 25th, his brigades march north-west away from the 
river. The Union cavah-ymen guarding the other side see cohimns of 
dnst rising in the west. Wliat is Jackson np to? Whither is he going? 
He is heading towards the Bkie Ridge. Is he intending to go tlirough 
some of the gaps into tlie Shenandoah Valley ? General Pope, who is 
at Warrenton, has his army well concentrated, but he does not know what 
to make of those clouds of dust far away in the west towards the Blue 
Ridge. A Union officer, Colonel Clark, is out on picket. He creeps 
through the woods close np to the road over which Jackson is marching, 
lies there all the morning and counts the regiments — thirty-six of them, 
with cavalry and batteries. Wlien they have gone by, he hastens to Gen- 
eral Pope at Warrenton with the news. 

The Bull Run Mountains lie north-west of the old battle-field of Bull 
Ran. General Pope does not mistrust that Jackson, although marching 
west, is aiming for Thoroughfare Gap ; but before night Jackson has 
crossed the river at Harrison's Ford, and is at the little village of Orleans. 
His men have marched twenty -five miles in the broiling sun. They 
throw themselves down for a few hours' rest, but at daybreak are once 
more marching north towards the little town of Salem. Kow they turn 
east, and in the evening, after another twenty-five-mile march, are in pos- 
session of the Gap. 

How easy it would have been for Pope to have sent a division of 
troops up there by rail and taken possession of it in advance I But he 
did not suspect that Lee would divide his army and send Jackson to make 
such a roundabout movement. 

In war it is very necessary for military commanders to keep a sharp 
lookout on the back door as well as on the front. Usually it is much 
easier to get in at the rear than at the front. The movement w^hicli Jack- 
son was making was very hazardous, and if General Pope had divined 
what he was intending to do, and fallen back towards Manassas, he could 
have crushed him. If his cavalry picket had been out beyond the Bull 
Run Mountains keeping watch, he might have saved the army from the 
disasters that resulted from his want of care and foresight. But while 
Jackson is stealing round to his rear. Pope, joined by Heintzelman and 
Fitz-John Porters corps, is planning to make a sudden dash across the 
Rappahannock and attack Longstreet. He knows nothing of w4iat is going 
on in his rear. 

It is eight o'clock in the evening of the 26th. Suddenly the tele- 
graph between Pope's headquarters and W^ashington ceases ticking. Gen- 
eral Stuart has pushed south-east from Thoroughfare Gap with his cav- 



CONFEDERATE MANASSAS CAMPAIGN. 285 

airy, and is at Bristoe Station, three miles west of Manassas Junction. 
Two empty trains, with the engines, are there, and he runs them off the 
track. Jackson is following Stuart, and at midnight his leg -weary sol- 
diers, who have marched nearly sixty miles in a little more than two days, 
are at Manassas Junction, capturing three hundred Union troops, with 
forty-eight cannon, one hundred and seventy-five horses, ten locomotives, 
fifty thousand pounds of bacon, two thousand barrels of flour, thousands 
of bushels of oats, one thousand barrels of corned beef, with an immense 
supply of bread, two thousand barrels of salt pork, fruit, hospital stores, 
and ammunition. The Confederate cavalrymen mounted the fresh horses. 
The soldiers ate all they could, filled their haversacks, sj)iked the cannon, 
and set the sheds containing the stores on fire. 

Union cavalrymen rode in hot haste to Warrenton, and General Pope 
soon comprehended the meaning of Jackson's movement. He was cut off 
from Washington ; his supplies were destroyed. He must make a quick 
march towards Manassas, fall upon Jackson, and crush him before Lee 
could come to his aid. Oflicers ride with orders, and at daybreak, August 
27th, every division is moving eastward. At the same moment Long- 
street is moving over the same route that Jackson took for Thoroughfare 
Gap, to join Jackson before Pope can fall upon him. 

General Halleck in Washington learned that something wrong was go- 
ing on at Manassas. General Slocum's division of the Arni}^ of the Po- 
tomac was at Alexandria, and General Taylor's brigade of New Jersey 
troops hastened to the cars, and were taken out as far as Bull Run on 
Wednesday morning, August 27tli. The troops filed out of the *cars, 
marched across the bridge, and on to Manassas Junction. Suddenly the 
heavy guns which Jackson had captured opened on them, and then the 
Confederate infantry. General Taylor, seeing that Jackson's whole corps 
was in front of him, retreated towards Blackburn's Ford. Stuart, with 
his cavalry, dashed upon the surprised troops, capturing Taylor and nearly 
half the brigade. Those not captured fled through the M'oods towards 
Centreville utterly disorganized. 

General Hooker at the same hour — three o'clock in the afternoon — 
is marching east from Warrenton Junction along the railroad. 

A brook called Broad Run, which is crossed by the railroad near the 
station, comes down from the north-west, along which is posted Swell's 
division of Confederates. Hooker deploys his men, outmanoeuvres Ewell, 
makes a vigorous attack, and drives him across the run so rapidly that he 
cannot remove his wounded. It is a quick, sharp fight, in which Ewell 
loses between three and four hundred men, and Hooker nearly the same 



286 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

number. General Pope arrives while the fight is going on, and at sunset 
on this Wednesday night begins to comprehend the situation of affairs. 
It is not a small force of cavalry and infantry that has gained his rear, 
but half of Lee's army. He is of the opinion that Jackson is swinging 
his whole corps south, to get between him and Alexandria, and sends or- 
ders to his own generals to move in the same direction — making the mis- 
take of removing General McDowell's and Sigel's corps from Gainesville, 
where the turnpike from Centreville to Warrenton crosses tlie railroad 
running through Thoroughfare Gap. They were in the best place possible 
to keep Lee from joining Jackson. 

Leaving Pope now, let us go up to Manassas and see what Jackson's 
plans are. He knows that Pope outnumbers him ; that he cannot wait at 
Manassas ; that it will not do for him to get between Pope and Alexan- 
dria, but that he must retire to a position where Lee can join him. He 
remembers the old field of Bull Run — knows every foot of tlie ground. 
North of it is an unfinished railroad, excavations and embankments, along 
which he will post his troops and hold the ground till Lee arrives. So, 
while Pope is marcliing his troops south-east and south towards Manassas 
Junction, Jackson is retreating north-east to this chosen position. 

General McDowell, in obedience to Pope's orders, begins his march 
eastward. He is at Gainesville, the point where the Manassas Gap Rail- 
road crosses the Warrenton Pike. Suddenly a cannon on a hill north of 
the turnpike flashes. There is a short fight, and the enemy disappear 
from the hill, retreating north-east. McDowell thinks it is Stuart's cav- 
alry Ihat he has encountered, but it is General Bradley Johnson's brigade 
of Taliaferro's division instead. McDowell does not suspect that he has 
struck Jackson's right wing, and that if he continues his march east along 
the j^ike he will find himself confronted by Taliaferro's and Ewell's di- 
visions. He has orders to march to Manassas Junction. He turns south, 
and marches away from the very spot which he ought to hold. If he 
were to march a mile farther east he would find the enemy. The head 
of the column turns south in obedience to orders, and tlie great oppor- 
tunity to crush Jackson is lost. 

It is half-past four in the afternoon when word comes to General Pope 
that Jackson is at Centreville, east of Bull Run. It is a mistake. He has 
been there, and A. P. Hill was there in the morning ; but now Jackson 
has his whole army along the line of the unfinished railroad south of Sud- 
ley Springs. Pope, accordingly, sends orders to his different corps to 
march towards Centreville. 

It is almost sunset, Kearney's division of Heintzelman's corps has 



CONFEDERATE MANASSAS CAMPAIGN. 



287 




THE SORTIE OP LEE. 



made a quick march, crossed Bull Run at Blackburn's Ford, and is nearly 
up to Centreville. Reno's division is behind him on the east bank ; Hook- 
er is on the west bank ; Reynolds and Sigel are two miles south of the 
old battle-field ; Porter's corps is at Bristoe Station ; Banks is behind him, 
guarding the trains. 

Ricketts's division is well up towards Thoroughfare Gap, just where 
it ought to be to keep Longstreet from coming through. King's division 
has been there, but lias been ordered to Centreville. If he had been or- 



288 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

dered to remain witli Ricketts, far different, in all probability, would have 
been the history of the campaign. 

Let us see the situation at the moment the sun is sinking behind the 
Blue Ridge. Kearney, at Centreville, has come up with the rear of A. P. 
Iliirs corps. Thirteen miles away in the west Longstreet is coming 
tln'ough Thoroughfare Gap. Ricketts's guns are flashing in front of him. 
King is on the turnpike, his soldiers in column, marching at will. King 
has no expectation of being attacked. He does not know that Ewell and 
Taliaferro are ready to pounce upon him from a piece of woods across the 
open field north of the turnpike. 

The sun is just sinking below the horizon, and the cool of the evening 
is delightful to the weary soldiers, who hear the boom of cannon far away 
in the east towards Centreville, where Hooker and Kearney are driving 
the rear of A. P. Hill from that place north-west towards Sudley Springs. 
Not a soldier in Gibbon's and Doubleday's brigades of King's division 
mistrusts that half a mile from the turnpike Taliaferro has his batteries 
in position, and that the gunners are taking aim. 

There are flashes and white clouds of smoke along the edge of the 
woods ; shells burst amid the astonished and startled trooj)s. The column 
comes to a halt and waits for orders. General King is not thei'e. Gibbon 
and Doubleday hold a quick consultation. 

" Tear down that fence !" is the order, and the fence on the north side 
of the turnpike is thrown to the ground in a twinkling. The two gener- 
als resolve to know the meaning of this audacious cannonade. 

Gibbon's brigade — the Second, Sixth, and Seventh Wisconsin, and the 
Nineteenth Indiana — advances across the field. A line of light fringes the 
dark-green foliage of the forest. A moment later they give their answer 
by a volley of musketry. The Union batteries gallojD to a hill, wheel into 
position, and open fire. 

Doubleday has the Fifty -sixth Pennsylvania, and the Seventy -sixth 
and Ninety-fifth New York regiments. They turn from the turnpike and 
move up a gentle slope. Gibbon marches through a piece of woods to 
an open field. The regiment holding the left of the line advances to Mr. 
Brawner's house, driving the Confederate skirmishers, coming upon Talia- 
ferro's line, which is posted along the railroad-cut crossing Brawner's farm. 
The battle extends from the farm-house, out-buildings, and hay-stacks east- 
ward to the woods, where Ewell's division is stationed. Doubleday ad- 
vances across the open field north-west of the little cluster of buildings 
called Groveton, charging straight into the woods. 

General Taliaferro has four brigades : Baylor's, Johnson's, Taliaferro's, 



CONFEDERATE MANASSAS CAMPAIGN. 289 

and Stafford's. Two of Ewell's brigades are also engaged : Trimble's and 
Lawton's ; in all, there are twentj-nine Confederate regiments against seven 
Union. It is nearly six o'clock when the battle begins ; it is a terrific 
struggle. This is what General Taliaferro says of it : 

" For two hours and a half, witliout an instant's cessation of the most 
terrible discharges of musketry, round shot, and shell, both lines stood un- 
moved, neither advancing, and neither breaking nor yielding, nntil at last, 
about nine o'clock at night, the eneni}^ slowly and sullenly fell back and 
yielded the field." 

General Taliaferro was wounded. General Ewell received a bullet in 
his knee and was carried to a farm-house, where his leg was amputated. 
Three Confederate colonels, one lieutenant-colonel, and four majors were 
killed or wounded. 

" It was a fierce and sanguinary fight," said Jackson. Through the 
twilight hours the two lines faced each other — the Union troops mostly 
in the open fields, the Confederates in the edge of the woods — and fired 
sullenly in each other's faces, broad sheets of flame from rausketiy and 
cannon lighting up the lurid scene — one-third of the Union troops being 
killed or wounded. 

Gibbon and Doubleday have fallen back to the turnpike. The soldiers 
are not in the least disheartened. They have lost one-third of their num- 
ber. The field where they have fought is thickly strewn with killed and 
wounded, but they make the welkin ring with their cheers. They know 
that they have fought three times their own number. 

Jackson hears the hurrahs sounding on the night air, and does not 
know what to make of it. A defeated army marches away in silence ; but 
the Union troops, instead of marching away, are hurrahing as if they had 
won a victory. It must be that they have been reinforced. Instead of 
sweeping down and crushing King as he might have done, he consolidates 
his line. 

General King is in a quandary. What shall he do ? Pope has been 
marching to attack Jackson before Longstreet arrives. He has encoun- 
tered Jackson's right wing ; to stay where he is will be hazardous. He 
does not know where to find Pope, and resolves to march towards Manas- 
sas. The wounded are gatliered, the long train of ambulances move away, 
and at one o'clock in the morning the two brigades which have fought so 
brave a battle retire from the spot which they ought to hold at all hazards. 

With their marching away they put it out of the power of Pope to 
crusli Jackson before the arrival of Longstreet ; for Ricketts, wdio has been 
trying to hold Thoroughfare Gap against Longstreet, has been outflanked 
19 



290 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

by a division which crept over tlic mountains farther north, and is march- 
ing south towards Bristoe Station. In tlie morning McDowell and Sigel 
were in tlie best possible position, but now there is nothing to prevent the 
union of Longstreet and Jackson. 

It is August 29, 1862, and the sun is rising. General Pope is at Cen- 
treville. He has made the mistake of tliinking that Jackson is retreating, 
but is glad to hear that he has halted. He does not know that Long- 
street's troops are pouring through Thoroughfare Gap. He has been in 
pursuit of Jackson, has found him, and now will crush him. Couriers 
ride with orders to the commanders of the different corps and divisions. 
Heintzelman, with Hooker's and Kearney's, are at this hour between 
Centreville and Bull Rnn. Crossing Stone Bridge and riding west, we 
come to the field of the first Bull Run battle. One mile beyond it, south 
of the turnpike, near Groveton, we find Reynolds's division of Pennsyl- 
vania Reserves, Sigel's corps, and Milroy's independent brigade. Kow, 
turning south, and riding along a country road through woods and fields, 
we come to the railroad near Manassas, where we find the troops of Fitz- 
John Porter. He is three miles distant from Sigel and Reynolds. McDow- 
ell is near him. Banks is three miles farther south, at Bristoe Station, 
guarding the trains, moving slowly, when he ought to be moving rapidly, 
towards Bull Run. 

The army under Pope is not a compact body ; the troops have very 
little confidence in him as a commander. His own troops have not for- 
gotten the unfortunate order which he issued Avlien he took command, and 
are beginning to suffer for want of the provisions which Jackson destroyed. 
The troops which have been serving under McClellan are prejudiced 
against him. There is want of harmony among the corps and division 
commanders. Under such circumstances General Pope proposes to fight 
a great battle. He will crush Jackson, and then fall back towards Wash- 
ington and reorganize and revictual his army. 

Reynolds is near Groveton, within a mile of the field where King 
fought so bravely the night before. East of him, next in line, are 
Schenck's and Schurz's divisions, and then Milroy's brigade, facing north- 
west. 

"With the rising of the sun the battle begins. The Confederate troops 
are the same that fought the previous night — Taliaferro's division, com- 
manded now by Starke, and E well's, commanded now by Lawton. The 
Confederates drive back Schurz's division, but are driven in turn. One 
of Schurz's brigades gains the railroad embankment and holds it. 

At half-past five in the morning. General Porter receives an order to 



CONFEDEKATE MANASSAS CAMPAIGN. 291 

mai'cli at once to Centreville ; but it is lialf-past seven before he is ready 
to move. Then he receives an order to march towards Gainesville. The 
troops turn north-west and march along the railroad leading to Gainesville. 
At half-past eleven they are at Dawkin's Branch, a little stream running 
south. They can see the shells bursting in the air two miles north of 
them ; the rattle of musketry falls upon their ears. Porter has twelve 
thousand men. An officer comes to him with this despatch from General 
Buford, commanding the cavalry, wdio is near Gainesville, on the left flank 
of Reynolds : " 9.30 a.m. — Seventeen regiments, one battery, and five hun- 
dred cavalry passed through Gainesville three-quarters of an hour ago on 
the Centreville road. I think this division should join our forces, now 
engaged, at once." 

What should Porter and McDowell do ? The order from Pope was to 
march to Gainesville ; but Longstreet was already at Gainesville. His 
advance had joined Jackson, according to this despatch. Should they turn 
off from the road, strike through the woods, and find a route due north to 
Reynolds ? 

Porter and McDowell rode out a little distance and saw that the 
ground was uneven, that the troops would find it difficult marching. Far- 
ther east is the road leading to Sudley Springs. King's and Ricketts's 
divisions are already on it, and at noon they take up their line of march 
towards the sound of the cannonade. 

General Porters skirmishers are in the woods west of Dawkin's Branch, 
his cannon are planted along the east bank, and his troops are in line. He 
sees a cloud of dust west of him. AVhat is the meaning of it ? Is Long- 
street swinging his troops south to attack him ? 

The Confederate pickets immediately in front of Porter are Rosser's 
cavalrymen who have been sent by Longstreet to raise a great dust in 
front of Porter, to make him think that his whole force is moving towards 
Manassas. The cavalrymen have tied bundles of brush to the tails of the 
horses, and are riding up and down the road. 

General Porter did not like to receive orders from Pope, and his preju- 
dice is seen in his despatches to McClellan. 

" We are working," he writes, " to get behind Bull Run, and I pre- 
sume will be there in a few days, if strategy does not use us np. The 
strategy is immense, and the tactics in the inverse proportion. ... I be- 
lieve the enemy have a contempt for the Army of Virginia. I wish my- 
self away from it, with all our old Army of the Potomac, and so do our 
companions." 

Through the afternoon Porter waits. The order directing him to move 



292 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



to Gainesville was a joint order to himself and McDowell. McDowell has 
moved np the road to Sudley Springs, and reaches the field of battle in 
season to be of service, but Porter does not follow. He is but two miles 
from the conflict ; a fleet horse would take him to Pope's headquarters in 
half an hour; no messenger is sent to obtain instructions. Through the 
afternoon Porter remains motionless. Pope the while supposes that Porter 
is obeying the order already sent. 







MAP OF GAINESVILLE. 



It is four o'clock before Heintzelman is in position to attack A. P. 
Hill, who holds the left of the Confederate line. He selects Grover's bri- 
gade of Hooker's division to lead. 

" Advance till you receive the fire of the enemy ; deliver your own, 
then charge bayonets !" are the orders. 

The brigade, which has been in all the battles of the Peninsula, moves 
across the fields towards the woods and the railroad embankment, behind 
which the Confederates are lying. First a rattle, then a roar of musketry 
and of Confederate cannon. The line in the field conies to a halt ; the 
muskets fall to a level ; a line of light runs the entire length. With a 
hurrah the^^ go up to the embankment, driving the Confederates back 
upon the second line. 

Now is the time to hurl in the reserves, break the Confederate line at 
the centre, fold it back, and crush the divided wings. But no troops 



CONFEDERATE MANASSAS CAMPAIGN. 293 

come to tlieii- support. For twenty minutes they struggle, and then are 
compelled to fall back, leaving more than six hundred killed and wounded 
on the field. 

Kearney was to advance at the same moment that Grover attacked, 
but for some reason he did not till later, when he rolled back the Confed- 
erate line. 

" For a while victory trembled in the balance," are the words of Hill. 

Gregg's Confederate brigade loses six hundred and thirteen killed 
and wounded, including every field-officer excepting two. Hill's troops are 
protected by the railroad embankment. He orders up Lawton's and 
Early's brigades, and Kearney is driven from the position which he has 
gained. 

It -was noon when King's division started from Dawkin's Branch to 
march north ; and now, at six o'clock, just as the sun is going down, the 
troops which in the last night's gloaming turned from the turnpike west 
of Groveton and attacked Jackson's right wing, once more advance to 
attack, not the worn and wearied troops of Jackson, but Hood's division 
of Longstreet's corps — the troops which Buford saw pouring through 
Gainesville at half-past nine. Here they are, with three batteries lining 
the edge of the forest. Darkness once more is coming on when King's 
troops move to the attack. General King is not able to sit in his saddle, 
and General Hatch commands the division. For three-quarters of an hour 
they struggle, when, outnumbered, they are obliged to retire, leaving one 
cannon in the hands of the enemy. Night closes upon a bloody scene. 
The Union troops have attacked, have driven the enemy from his chosen 
position. 

/ General Pope believed that the tarrying of Porter at Dawkin's Branch 
was the cause of all his subsequent failure and disasters, and that officer 
subsequently was relieved of his command, was tried by court-martial, and 
dismissed from the army, to be reinstated again by Act of Congress in 
1886. History doubtless will acquit Fitz-John Porter of being disloyal ; 
but as the years go by, and as the secret history of the war is unfolded, 
it will be seen that the prejudices engendered in the Army of the Poto- 
mac by undue favoritism on the part of General McCIellan had much to 
do with the train of disasters on the field of the second Manassas. 

How easy it is to make mistakes, and in war how terrible sometimes 
are the consequences ! General Pope is confident that the enemy is re- 
treating, when, instead, Lee is posting his troops to renew the battle. On 
this Saturday morning Pope, instead of attacking, might have had his whole 
army east of Bull Run, on the heights of Centreville, resting his wearied 



294 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

soldiers and obtaining fresh provisions ; bnt, on the contrary, at midnight 
lie issues his orders for an advance '"'"in pursuit''^ of tlie enemy. Porter 
had arrived, and the army, with the exception of Banks's corps, was at last 
concentrated. 

On the ground occupied by the Confederate army in the first battle of 
Bnll Run are the Union troops. There are woods with cleared fields ; 
two swells of land — that on which stands the house of Mr. Henry, and 
west of it, a mile distant, Bald Hill and Mr. Chinn's house. On the north 
side of the turnpike were the troops of Generals Heintzelman, Reno, Sigel, 
King, and Porter. General Pope knew that Jackson was still along the 
line of the railroad embankment, and massed his troops to attack him, 
not suspecting that Lee was moving Longstreet south of the turnpike to 
turn his own right flank. 

Through the forenoon both armies have been getting ready for the 
conflict. Just before Porter advances to attack Jackson, Reynolds and 
Ricketts discover the troops of Longstreet creeping round the left flank, 
and Reynolds forms his division to meet him. 

The brigades of Barnes and Butterfield, of Porter's corps — fresh troops 
that have had no part in the battle since they came from the Peninsula — 
are first engaged. King's division, a great deal smaller than it was forty- 
eiffht hours a2:o, also advances. 

" I am hard pressed, and must have reinforcements," is Jackson's mes- 
sage to Lee. 

An oflicer rides to Longstreet with Lee's message: "Jackson needs 
assistance. Send him what troops you can spare." The troops will ha^-e 
to march nearly three miles to get there. Longstreet has a better plan. 
The Union troops advancing against Jackson face noi'th-west. Longstreet 
is south of Groveton. He sees that he can bring his artillery into posi- 
tion to fire north-east, and that the shot and shells will enfilade Porter's 
line. 

" I saw that if I were to open fire the attack against Jackson could 
not be continued ten minutes. I made no movements with my troops," 
said Longstreet to me after the war. 

A battery wheels into position and the shells scream through the air, 
bursting in Porter's ranks, and doing such execution that in ten minutes 
Butterfield and Barnes are falling back. Had not Longstreet opened at 
the very moment, Jackson would without doubt have been driven from 
the position. 

General Pope has not yet discovered what Lee is about to do, and 
makes the mistake of ordering Reynolds to cross the turnpike and assist 



CONFEDERATE MANASSAS CAMPAIGN. 295 

in the attack upon Jackson. McDowell is still on the south side of the 
pike. 

Longstreet sees the mistake which Pope has made. His whole line 
advances — five divisions — ^ Evans, Anderson, Kemper, Jones, and Wilcox. 
They have been concealed in the woods. Thej come into the open field 
west of Mr. Chinn's house. Pope quickly sees his mistake, and Sigel and 
two brigades of Ricketts's division, under General Tower, M'ith tw^elve can- 
non, go upon the run across the turnpike to join McDowell. General Sykes, 
with two brigades of regulars, hastens to the Henry house hill, and also 
Reynolds, with the Pennsylvania Reserves. McLean's brigade of Schenck's 
division is on Bald Hill. Sigel, seeing how hard pressed they are, sends 
Schurz's division to help them. The conflict rages around the Chinn 
house. Colonel Koltes and Colonel Fletcher Webster, son of Daniel Web- 
ster, the great statesman, are killed and General Tower wounded. 

Passing over to Longstreet's lines, we see Hood's division cut to ])ieces, 
one-fourth of the troops killed or wounded. Anderson's is almost annihi- 
lated. In one brigade of five regiments every field-oflicer except one is 
killed or wounded. The ground is slippery with blood. Sigel's and 
McDowell's troops hold Bald Hill, despite all the efforts of Longstreet to 
drive them from the position by a direct attack, but the Confederate 
troops are creeping round towards the Henry house. 

General Pope sees at last that the battle is going against him. He must 
hold his ground till the trains can get across Bull Run. The retreat be- 
gins, the troops in front of Jackson slowly falling back. The Henry house 
hill must be held to the last, and there, on the very spot where the final 
struggle in the first battle of Bull Run took place, comes the last struggle 
of the day. Longstreet advances, but all of his attempts to drive the reg- 
ulars under General Sykes ends in failure. The sun has gone down, dark- 
ness is coming on, but there are still flashes on the Henry hill, where the 
cannon and muskets flame. 

The cannon are silent at last, the battle over. Lee has won a victory 
and the Union troops are retreating across Bull Run. Lee has suflered 
so severely that his tired troops can make no quick pursuit. 

There had been a great mistake made by General McClellan at Alex- 
andria, in not co-operating as heartily as he might with Pope. The 
Army of the Potomac, when it landed at Alexandria and passed beyond 
the fortifications, was no longer under his command, but received orders 
from Pope. We need not wonder that he keenly felt the change. He 
had been commander-in-chief of all the armies, had issued orders to gener- 
als in the Far West as well as along the Atlantic shore. That power had 



296 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

been taken away ; and now his army, which he had led so near Richmond 
that he could hear the church-bells toll the hour, was being transferred to 
Pope. Instead of being at the head of a great army he was at Alexandria, 
sending his troops to another commander. Pope needed supplies. This 
the answer of McClellan : " Wagons and cars will be loaded and sent as 
soon as a cavalry escort is sent to bring them out." Pope sends this to 
llalleck in reply : " Such a desiDatch, when Alexandria is full of troops, and 
we are fighting the enemy, needs no comment." Pope has this to say in 
liis report : " I do not see what service cavalry could have rendered in 
guarding a railroad train. 1 did not feel discouraged till I received this 
letter." To Pope's request for ammunition this McClellan's reply : " I 
know nothing of the calibre of his guns." On the afternoon of the 29th, 
with the booming of cannon at Manassas rolling across the Potomac, he 
telegraphs to President Lincoln as to the course to be adopted : " To 
leave Pope to get out of his scrape and at once use all means to make the 
capital safe." 

September 1st. It is a rainy morning, but Jackson is on the march, 
crossing Bull Run at Sudley Ford, where McDowell forded it when he 
marched to the first Bull Run battle. He marches north, then north-east, 
along a country road till he reaches the Little River turnpike, and then 
turns south. He is north-east of Centreville, and is aiming for Fairfax 
Court-house to get once more between Pope and Washington. It is a 
liazardous moment, for Longstreet is far behind, and Pope has been rein- 
forced by Sumner and Franklin, who have twenty thousand men. 

Pope discovers Jackson's movement, and orders the army to fall back 
towards Fairfax. At Germantown is the junction of the Little River and 
Warrenton pikes. Hooker and Reno and Kearney are there, when Jack- 
son, just at dark, comes down the Little River pike, files into the woods 
and fields south of Chantilly,. near Ox Hill. It is nearly dark when A. P. 
Hill begins the attack with Branch's, Hay's, Trimble's, and Gregg's bri- 
gades, which are hurled back by Reno and Kearney, with severe loss to 
Jackson ; but the Union army suffers a great loss in the death of General 
Stevens and General Kearney. Once more night comes on, closing the 
battle. 

It has been a period of disaster and defeat to the Union army, and 
of victory to the Confederates. General Pope, in his retreat, has been 
obliged to leave a large number of his wounded on the field. There was 
one very pathetic scene. In an orchard lay six Union soldiers near one 
another, not under the sheltering shade of the trees, but in the broiling sun. 
Each of the six had lost a leg, and one, Corporal Tanner, had lost both 



CONFEDERATE MANASSAS CAMPAIGN. 297 

legs. N'ear by them was a soldier with a ghastly wound in his side, made 
by an exploding shell. They were hot with fever and parched with 
thirst. The surgeon who had been left in charge of them had taken too 
much liquor, and was incompetent, through intoxication, to care for them. 

The suffering soldiers could see the apple-trees near by loaded with 
luscious fruit — so near, and yet so far away ! The ripening apples were 
dropping to the ground. " Oh that we had some of them !" said one. 
The soldier with a wound in his side, hearing the exclamation, dragged 
himself towards the trees, stretching out his arms, clutching the long 
grass, gaining inch by inch until he could reach the apples and toss them 
back to the others. It was a supreme effort. He did not know the names 
of his suffering comrades ; they were not members of the same regiment, 
but they wore the blue, and were giving their lives for their country; 
that was enough. A few moments later he who had made this sacrifice 
breathed his last breath, and was motionless evermore. His last work had 
been one of love, good-will, and devotion. 

The army was out of provisions. Sumner's and Franklin's corps had 
reached Centreville, but they had very little to eat. It is possible that if 
there had been any controlling mind a stand might have been made at 
that point and Lee, in turn, defeated ; for the Confederates, although they 
had destroyed Pope's provisions, were needing supplies, and would have 
been compelled to make a second attack, or retire towards Manassas. 
General Pope saw that the troops had no confidence in him, that the 
army was disorganized, and that the best course would be a falling back 
to the fortifications at Arlington and Alexandria. 

General McClellan was there, and the troops which had temporarily 
been turned over to Pope once more came under his command, and the 
work of reorganization began. 

Lee's jDlan for crushing Pope, and bringing about the withdrawal of 
McClellan from the James, had been crowned with success. There was 
great i-ejoicing in the South, and much despondency throughout the North. 
General Lee had lost many men ; but having crushed Pope, and compelled 
the withdrawal of the Army of the Potomac from the James to Wash- 
ington, he determined to carry the war northward, across the Potomac, in 
a new and aggressive campaign. 



298 DEUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

IXYASIOX OF MARYLAND. 

TT was universally believed in the South that the sympathies of the peo- 
■*■- pie of Maryland were with the Confederacy. The song " My Mary- 
land !'' had been sung in every hamlet of the seceded States. It was be- 
lieved that if General Lee were to cross the Potomac and enter that State 
thousands of young men would flock to his ranks ; that Baltimore would 
welcome him with open arms ; and that the possible result might be the 
capture of AVashington, or a movement into Pennsylvania. lie would be 
in a rich and fertile country. The harvest had been gathered, and he 
could obtain all needful supplies. Such a movement would terrify the 
]S^ortliern States. If he could fight another battle and win a great victor}^ 
north of the Potomac, England and France would recognize the Confeder- 
acy and break the blockade. The soldiers were ready and eager to invade 
the North. Had they not driven McClellan from Richmond? Had they 
not defeated the combined armies of McClellan and Pope? 

On September 5th the Confederate army crossed the Potomac at Po- 
land's Ford, General Jackson leading the colunm. The water was only 
knee-deep, and the soldiers swung their hats, cheered, and sung "Mary- 
land ! my Maryland !" 

General Lee issued a strict order against plundering private property. 
He regarded Maryland as a Southern State, and the army must not do 
anything to oifend the people. It was harvest-time; the orchards were 
loaded with fruit, the barns filled with hay and grain, and there were 
thousands of acres of corn ripening in the golden sunlight. 

At ten o'clock on September 6th General Stuart's cavalry entered 
Frederick. There were Marylanders in the Confederate army, Miio 
were warmly welcomed by their friends. A few women waved their 
handkerchiefs, but most of the people gazed in silence upon the troops. 
The soldiers Avere well supplied with Confederate paper -money, and 
they paid liberally for boots, shoes, flour, bacon, cattle, and horses. The 
people did not dare to refuse the money, although thej knew it was 
Avorthless. 



INVASION OF MARYLAND. 301 

General Lee issued an address, which read as follows : " The people of 
the South have seen with profound indignation their sister State deprived 
of every right and reduced to the condition of a conquered province. Be- 
lieving that the people of Maryland possessed a spirit too lofty to submit 
to such a government, the people of the South have long wished to aid 
you in throwing off this foreign yoke, to enable you again to enjoy the 
inalienable rights of freemen." 

The people of Maryland did not feel, however, that they were under a 
foreign yoke, or that they were a conquered province. They did not 
swing their hats and hurrah, but on the contrary made up their minds to 
stand by the Union. 

All the Confederate troops in and around Richmond were hurried for- 
ward to reinforce General Lee. General Walker joined him at Frederick 
with two brigades. On the afternoon of September 7th General Lee un- 
folded his plans to General Law. " There are," he said, " between eight 
and ten thousand stragglers between here and Rapidan Station. Besides 
these we shall be able to get a large number of recruits who have been 
accumulating at Richmond for some weeks. They ought to reach us at 
Hagerstown ; we shall then have a very good army. In ten days from now, 
if the situation is then what I confidently exjDect it to be after the capt- 
iire of Harper's Ferry, I shall concentrate the army at Hagerstown, effect- 
ually destroy the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and march to Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania. That is the objective point of the campaign. I wish to 
destroy the railroad bridge over the Susquehanna, which will disable the 
Pennsylvania railroad for a long time. With the Baltimore and Ohio in 
our possession, with the Pennsylvania broken, there will remain to the 
enemy but one route of communication with the West — that by the lakes. 
After that I can turn my attention to Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Wash- 
ington. General McClellan is an able general, but a very cautious one. 
His array is in a very demoralized and chaotic condition, and will not be 
prepared for offensive operations, or he will not think it so, for three or 
four weeks. Before that time I hope to be on the Susquehanna." 

There were eleven thousand Union troops at Harper's Ferry and Mary- 
land Heights, where there w^ere strong works, with heavy cannon. Mary- 
land Heights are higher than all the other summits in the vicinity and 
commanded Harper's Ferry and Loudon Heights, on the south side of the 
river. General Lee saw that it would not do to leave so large a force in 
his rear to pounce upon his trains. Harper's Ferry must be caj)tured. 
We can now see just how General Lee laid his plan, and what considera- 
tions led to his adopting it. His whole army is near Frederick. He 



302 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



issues his orders on Wednesday evening, September 9th. He will divide 
it into five sections. He will send Jackson, who has so drilled and disci- 
plined his troops that they can march thirty miles in a day with ease, 
over Sonth Mountain westward, through Boonesboro', through Sharpsburg, 




SOUTH MOUNTAIN. 



to cross the Potomac at Shepardstown, marching south to Martinsburg, in 
Virginia, seizing the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and pushing east to 
Harper's Ferry. Jackson is to be at Martinsburg on Friday evening, and 
at Harper's Ferry on Saturday morning. While he is making this wide 
circuit of nearly sixty miles, in as many hours, McLaws's division is to 
march south-west, and close upon Maryland Heights. At the same time 
Walker's division is to cross tlie Potomac opjjosite Frederick, turn west, 
and seize Loudon Heights, on the east bank of the Shenandoah, overlook- 
ing Harper's Ferry. These simultaneous movements will cut off the eleven 
thousand from McClellan. 

While these three sections of the army are thus employed, D. H. Hill 
is to hold the passes at South Mountain, and Longstreet is to move on to 



INVASION OF MARYLAND. 303 

Hagerstown. General Lee understands the qualifications of McClellan to 
command an army. He saw the commander of the Army of the Potomac 
remaining at Alexandria through the winter ; saw him sit down before 
Yorktown with more than one hundred thousand men, with only eleven 
thousand Confederates in front of him. He knows how long he was in 
advancing from Yorktown to the Chickahominy ; how he lingered at Har- 
rison's Landing while he himself was hastening northward to crush Pope. 
His scouts give him information every evening of the slow movement of 
McClellan towards him. He can count upon McClellan's slowness as a 
permanent factor in all his plans and calculations. On tlie other hand, 
he can count upon Stonewall Jackson's swiftness. If he orders Jackson 
to be at Harper's Ferry on Saturday morning, he will be there without 
fail. General Stuart is to send a squadron of cavalry with each division 
to pick up all stragglers. When Harper's Ferry falls, all are to hasten 
northward towards Sharpsburg. It is a bold, hazardous plan, based on the 
known slowness of McClellan. Lee will have time to strike the blow and 
concentrate his army before McClellan will be in position to attack him. 

The Union army had been reorganized with right and left wrings and 
a centre. The right wing was commanded by General Burnside, and con- 
sisted of the First Corps, commanded by General Hooker, and the Ninth, 
under General Peno. Each corps had three divisions : the First Corps, 
King's, Picketts's, and Mead's divisions ; the Ninth Corps, Wilcox's, Stur- 
gis's, and Podman's. 

The centre was commanded by General Sumner, who had the Second 
Corps, with Pichardson's, Sedgwick's, and French's divisions ; and the 
Twelfth Corps, under General Mansfield, composed of Williams's and 
Greene's divisions. 

The left wing, commanded by General Franklin, contained the Fifth 
Corps, under General Porter, and the Sixth, under Franklin. 

On Sunday afternoon, September 7th, General McClellan left Wash- 
ington, establishing his headquarters near Pockville, fourteen miles from 
Washington, where he remained till the following Friday. The army was 
moving less than six miles a day towards Frederick. 

On the morning of the 10th the Confederate troops began to move 
away from that town. Two days later, on the 12th, General McClellan 
wrote : " From all I can gather, Secesh is skedaddling, and I don't think I 
can catch him unless he is really moving into Pennsylvania. In that case 
I shall catch him before he has made much headway towards the interior. 
I am beginning to think he is making off to get out of the scrape by re- 
crossing the river at Williamsport, in which case my only hope of bagging 



304: DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

him will be to cross lower down, and cut into his communications near 
Winchester, He evidently don't want to fight me, for some reason or 
other." 

While McClellan was writing this on Saturday evening, the Union 
cavalry and the Ninth Corps, under Burnside, were marching into Freder- 
ick. A soldier brought a very important paper to McClellan, picked up 
in the house which had been occupied by General D. H. Hill — a copy of 
Lee's orders, giving all the details of the proposed movements of the Con- 
federate army. 

It is not often that a general commanding a great army comes into 
possession of a document revealing all the plans of his opponent, mak- 
ing him master of the situation. Longstreet at Hagerstown would be 
thirty miles away from the divisions at Harper's Ferry. The old National 
Hoad, over which the stages rattled before the railroads were constructed, 
leads north-west from Frederick ; first over the Catoctin range of hills to 
the little village of Middlctown, then over the South Mountain Range, 
through Turner's Gap, to Boonesboro', and on to Hagerstown. Another 
road leads south-west, crosses the South Mountain Range through Cramp- 
ton's Pass, six miles south of Turner's Gap, and descends into Pleasant 
Valley. It would be an easy matter for McClellan to move with half or 
two-thirds his army through Crampton's Pass, while the remainder marched 
up the old stage-road. By such a movement he could thrust himself be- 
tween the two wings of Lee's army, and at the same time relieve Harper's 
Ferry. There would be few Confederates to confront him at Crampton's 
Pass ; and once in Pleasant Valley, he would be in rear of D. II. Hill, who 
was holding Turner's Gap, and who would be compelled to fall back tow- 
ards Hagerstown. Instead of doing this, General McClellan decided to send 
Franklin's corps and General Couch's division of the Fourth Corps through 
Crampton's Pass, and to move with the bulk of the army — more than sixty 
thousand men — up the old stage-road. It would not be a flanking move- 
ment, but following a retreating army, and attacking its rear-guard in a 
strong position. 

At twenty minutes past six on Saturday evening he wrote the order 
to Franklin to move at daylight on Sunday morning. Quickness and 
resolute energy were the all -important considerations. The army had 
moved slowly. The troops were fresh, and well supplied with provisions. 
Franklin's troops had taken no part in the battles under Pope at Manas- 
sas. They were in superb condition. The weather was delightful, the 
roads excellent. Why have Franklin wait till morning? Why not 
make the march in the night? There were no Confederates to confront 



INVASION OF MARYLAND. 305 

him east of Crampton's Pass. Little did McClellan comprehend that tlie 
great issues of the campaign were enfolded in those words : " You will 
move at daybreak." If the Confederates under JMcLaws held Crampton's 
Pass, Franklin was to form liis troops for attack, and half an hour after 
hearing the opening of battle at Turner's Gap he was to fall upon 
McLaws. These tlie closing Avords of McClellan's order : " I ask you at 
this important moment to use all your intellect and the utmost activity 
a general can exercise." With this injunction were these words : " If you 
find the Pass held by the enemy in large force, make all your dispositions 
for attack, and commence it about half an hour after you hear severe firing 
at the Pass on the Ilagerstown Pike, where the main body will attack." 

With so much depending on quick and energetic action, the order for 
Franklin to wait for the opening of the battle at Turner's Gap is an 
enigma which General McClellan never explained. 

It is a twelve -mile march which Franklin has to make. His troops 
start at daybreak to climb the Catoctin Range and then descend into the 
valley beyond. The Confederate pickets at the Pass see the winding col- 
umn of men in blue coming down the slope at ten o'clock, and send word 
to McLaws, who is three and a half miles away, directing his cannon upon 
the Union intrenchments on Maryland Heights, and who hastens with his 
troops to hold the Pass. If Franklin had moved at sunset he would 
have been at the foot of the Pass a little past midnight, unseen by the 
Confederates. AVhile Franklin is thus advancing, let us see what is going 
on at Turner's Pass, on the old stage-road. 

Early in the forenoon of Sunday, the 14tli of September, General 
Burnside, leading the Union army, ascended a high hill a few miles west 
of Frederick, and looked down upon one of the loveliest valleys in the 
world. At his feet was the vilhige of Middletown ; beyond it, in the bot- 
tom of the valley, the Catoctin Creek winds thi-ough ever-verdant mead- 
ows, past old mansions surrounded with well -filled barns; north and 
south, far as the eye can reach, are wheat and clover fields, and acres of 
corn putting on its golden hues. Beyond the creek the road winds along 
the mountain -side, past the little hamlet of Bolivar. There are ledges, 
loose stones, groves of oak, and thickets of mountain shrubs. There is a 
house on the summit, at Turner's Gap, once a tavern, where the teamsters 
and stagemen of former days watered their tired horses and ate a lunch. 
It is old and dilapidated now. Standing there and looking east, it seems 
as if a strong-armed man might hurl a stone upon Middletown, hundreds 
of feet below. Twelve miles away to the east are the spires of Frederick, 
gleaming in the sun. Westward from this mountain gate-way we may 
20 



306 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

beliold at our feet Boonesboro' and Keedjsville and the crooked Antietam ; 
and still farther westward the Potomac, making its great northern sweep 
to AVilliamsport. In the north-west, twelve miles distant, is Ilagerstown, 
at the head of the Cumberland Yalley, Longstreet is there on this Sunday 
morning, sending his cavalry up to the Pennsylvania line, gathering cattle, 
horses, and pigs. 

General D. H, Hill, from Turner's Gap, beholds the Union army spread 
out upon the plains before him, reaching all the way to Frederick City ; 
dark-blue masses moving towards him along the road, through the fields, 
with banners waving, their bright arms reflecting the morning sunshine. 
He is a native of South Carolina, and was educated by the Government at 
West Point. He was a teacher at the North Carolina Military School, 
and before the war did what he could to stir up the people of the South to 
rebel. He told them that the South had won nearly all the battles of the 
Revolution, but that the Northern historians had given the credit to the 
North, which was a " Yankee trick." He published an algebra in 1857, 
which Stonewall Jackson pronounced superior to all others. His "prob- 
lems " were expressive of hatred and contempt. 

" A Yankee," he states, " mixes a certain number of wooden nutmegs, 
which cost him one-fourth of a cent apiece, with real nutmegs, worth four 
cents apiece, and sells the whole assortment for $4i and gains $3.75 by the 
fraud. How many wooden nutmegs are there ?" 

"At the Woman's Rights Convention, held at Syracuse, New York, 
composed of one hundred and fifty delegates, the old maids, children, 
wives, and bedlamites were to each other as the numbers 5, 7, and 3. How 
many were there of each class ?" 

" The field of Buena Yista is six and a half miles from Saltillo. Two 
Indiana volunteers ran away from the field of battle at the same time ; 
one ran half a mile per hour faster than the other, and reached Saltillo 
five minutes and fifty-four and six-elevenths seconds sooner than the other. 
Required, their respective rates of travel." 

General Burnside formed liis lines along the Catoctin Creek. Gen- 
eral Cox's division was south of the turnpike, on the old road over which 
General Braddock and Washington marched in 1755, which winds up the 
mountain to Fox's Gap, one mile south of Turner's. General Reno's 
division advanced along the turnpike. It is seven o'clock in the morning 
when Scammon's brigade of Ohio troops moves into position. Robertson's 
battery is south of the turnpike, in a field, throwing shells up the mount- 
ain into the woods, where Hill's men are lying sheltered from sight by 
the foliage. 



INVASION OF MARYLAND. 307 

There is a reply from the Gap. Solid shot and shells fly from the 
mountain to the valley, Hayne's battery joins Robertson's. Simmons 
opens with his twenty - pounder, and McMullin with four heavy guns; 
and while church-bells far away are tolling the hour of worship, these can- 
non in the valley and on the mountain-side play the prelude to the ap- 
proaching strife. 

Scammon's brigade leads the way by the old Sharpsburg Road, the 
men toiling slowly up the hill, through the fields and pastures, over fences 
and walls, sometimes losing foothold and falling headlong or sliding down- 
ward. The brigade was preceded by a line of skirmishers, and was fol- 
lowed by Crook's brigade. Cox was moving to gain possession of Fox's 
Gap, where Hill has stationed Garland's brigade and Pelham's battery. 
General Colquitt is to hold Turner's Gap. Hill has five brigades, which 
have great advantage in position. 

The Union troops toil up the mountain -side, and a little past nine 
o'clock the first ripple of musketry breaks upon the morning air. Lieu- 
tenant Crome, of McMullin's battery, runs up two cannon and opens fire, 
but the skirmishers of the Twentieth ISTorth Carolina pick off the gunners. 
Lieutenant Crome is killed, and the cannon stand there with no one to load 
them. The Confederates do not dare to run down and capture them. Scam- 
mon slowly works his way round upon Garland's flank. A storm of bullets 
sweeps through the woods from the Union muskets. General Garland is 
talking with Colonel Ruftin, of the Twentieth North Carolina, who is 
urging him to go to a safer place. He will not go, and the next moment 
falls mortally wounded. 

The Confederates are behind a stone wall. The Union troops charge 
upon them, the Twelfth Ohio rushing upon a battery, but the gunners are 
quick to limber up their pieces and make their escape. Then the Thirtieth 
Ohio, with fixed bayonets, charge upon the Twenty-third and Twelfth 
JS^orth Carolina, and the Confederate line gives way. Cox is in posses- 
sion of Fox's Pass. Hill sends G. B. Anderson's brigade to attack him, 
but Anderson is repulsed. An onset as vigorous as that which overthrew 
Garland at that hour of the morning doubtless would have whirled D. H. 
Hill's whole force from the mountain ; for Longstreet, who had started 
from Hagerstown, was several miles distant, and there were no other Con- 
federate reinforcements at hand. The Union troops on the old stage-road 
were slowly advancing. The mountain is steep ; it rises one thousand feet 
above the valley. It took the Union engineers a long while to decide 
which was the best point to attack, and it was mid-afternoon before the 
troops were in position. We see Hooker's corps filing along a narrow 



308 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

■country road, past Tabor Chnrch, north of the stage-road, to attack Hill's 
■left Hank. The other three divisions of the Ninth Corps follow Cox's 
advance. Burnside, who is in command, has waited for Hooker to ar- 
rive. Hooker has made a rapid march, but it is past three in the 
afternoon before he is in position. Burnside supposed that Longstreet 
and Hill together confronted him, hut when Cox opened the battle 
Longstreet was ten miles away; and now, as Hooker is getting ready 
to advance, Longstreet's troops are panting up the western slope of the 
mountain. 

Hooker's corps is composed of Eicketts's and King's divisions and 
the Pennsylvania Reserves. The artillery — all the batteries which can be 
brought into position — send their shells up the mountain. Steadily on- 
ward moves the long line across the fields at the foot, up the pasture-lands 
of the slope, into the woods. 

Hood's division of Confederates is the first to reach the ground which 
Colquitt has held through the day. There is a rattling of musketry, then 
lieavy rolls, peal on peal, wave on wave, and a steady, constant roar. Not 
yielding an inch, but advancing slowly or holding their ground, the veter- 
ans of the Peninsula continue their fire. The mountain is white with the 
rising battle-cloud; there are shouts, yells, outcries mingling with the can- 
nonade, echoing and reverberating along the* valleys. 

" Please open upon that house with your battery," was the order of 
Colonel Meredith, of the Nineteenth Indiana, commanding a brigade in 
King's division, to Lieutenant Stewart, of the Fourth United States Artil- 
lery. The house was filled with Confederate sharp-shooters. Lieutenant 
Stewart sights his guns. A shell crashes through the rooms, and the Con- 
federates swarm out from doors and windows, like bees from a hive, in 
liasty flight. The men from Indiana give a lusty cheer. 

Gibbon's brigade moves up the old stage-road ; Longstreet's troops are 
arriving ; and as the sun goes down the volleys of musketry are like the 
grinding of the pebbles washed by the waves of the sea. The battle dies 
away as the darkness comes on. General McClellan has lost at Turner's 
Gap fifteen hundred and sixty -eight men, all but twenty -two of them 
killed or wounded. Among the killed was General Reno, commanding 
the Ninth Corps. He was a native of Virginia, but, unlike General Lee, 
and most of the ofiicers from the Southern States who had sided with the 
Confederacy, felt that he was in honor bound to fight for the old flag. 
General D. H. Hill, author of the "Algebra" and commander of the Con- 
federate troops in this battle, in his account of it speaks of him as'a "ren- 
egade Virginian who was killed by a happy shot from the Twenty-third 



INVASION OF MARYLAND. 311 

North Carolina.'" The Confederate loss was between two and three thou- 
sand, more than fifteen liundred of them prisoners. 

Going down to Crampton's Pass, six miles from Turner s, where we 
saw Franklin forming his lines at ten o'clock, we see the battle opening at 
noon, with Slocum's division on the right and Smith's on the left. The 
Confederates are under General Howell Cobb, of Georgia, who bankrupted' 
the United States Treasury during Buchanan's administration — one of the 
conspirators who brought about the Rebellion. He holds the Pass with 
three brigades. The battle goes on for three hours, when Cobb is com- 
pelled to flee, losing one cannon and four hundred prisoners, with nearly 
as many more killed or wounded. 

Tlie troops at Harper's Ferry heard the cannon, the roll of musketry 
at Crampton's Gap. Colonel Miles knew that tlie Army of the Potomac 
was fighting its way to his relief, but at eight o'clock on Monday morning, 
September 15th, against the remonstrances of his officers and soldiers, he 
raised a white flag in token of surrender. A moment later he was mor- 
tally wounded. Harper's Ferry was lost, with its eleven thousand men 
and seventy-three cannon, through the incapacity of Colonel Miles ; through 
the postponement by McClellan of the hour of marching for Franklin 
from sunset on Saturday till daybreak on Sunday; through the movement 
of the main body of the army to Turner's Gap instead of Crampton's. 
The troops were indignant at the surrender, with so little resistance on the 
part of Miles ; some of them shed tears over the disgrace. 

The Union cavalry, immbering twenty-five hundred, made their escape 
under cover of the night. They followed winding forest-paths through 
the woods, avoiding the roads till they were north of Sharpsburg. While 
crossing the Williarasport and Hagerstown road, they came upon Long- 
street's ammunition-train. 

" Hold !" said the officer commanding the cavalry to the forward 
driver. " You are on the wrong road. That is the way." 

The driver turned towards the north as directed, not knowing that the 
officer was a Yankee. 

"Hold on there! You are on the wrong road. Who told you to 
turn off here, I should like to know ?" shouted the Confederate officer in 
charge of the train, dashing up on his horse. 

" I gave the order, sir." 

"Who are you, and what right have you to interfere with my train, 
sir?" said the officer, coming up in the darkness. 

" I am colonel of the Eighth New Jersey Cavalry, and you are my 
prisoner," said the Union officer, presenting his pistol. 



312 DEUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. c 

One hundred wagons and seventy-four men were thus quietly cut out 
from tlie trains. 

At the head of this comj)any of prisoners marched a man with down- 
cast eyes, sunburned, dusty, dressed in gray, with a black featlier in his 
hat, Fitz-Hugli Miller, lie was a Pennsylvania!!. It was he who ar- 
rested Cook, one of Joh!i Brown's acconiplices in 1859, and delivered hii!i 
over to Governor Wise. Cook was tried, found guilty, and hanged. When 
the war broke out Miller went South, and was a captain in Lee's army. 
The people of Cliai!!bersburg Imew that he was a traitor. " Hang him !" 
they shouted. " A rope ! — get a rope !" There was a rush of men and 
women towards him. They were greatly excited. So!!ie picked up stones 
to hurl at him ; others shook their fists ii! his face ; but the guards closed 
round him, and hurried the pale and trembling man to prison as quickly 
as possible, and saved hiii! from a violent death. 

General Lee had defeated Pope at Bull Eun, had entered Maryland 
and pushed north to Ilagerstown. Jackson had captured Harper's Ferry, 
and there was !iow !!0 Union army to cut off his retreat, threaten his real', 
or intercept his communicatioi! with the Shenandoah Valley. His offi- 
cers and soldiers were expecting that he would lead them into Pennsyl- 
vania ; but General Lee knew that he could not !!iove farther north, now 
that he had been driven fro!!i South Mountain, for the Union avmy was 
pouring over the i!!ountain, and would soon be upon hii!i. He ixiust se- 
lect a field where he could concentrate his army and fight a defensive bat- 
tle. If he could once !!!ore defeat McClellan he could then invade Penn- 
sylvania. But his troops liad iiiade long and swift marches ; they were 
weary and worn. He had lost a great iiiany n!en. Thousands had been 
killed and wounded, other thousands had straggled. All told, he had not 
more thai! fifty thousand. General McClellan, however, believed that he 
had nearly oi!e hundred thousand. 

General Lee, after capturing Harper's Ferry, could have recrossed the 
Potomac, but he preferred to fight a battle north of the Potomac, and se- 
lected a field where it would be impossible for General McClellan to turn 
either of his flanks or get in his rear. 

In western Maryland is the little town of Sharpsburg, with a tui-npike 
leading i!orth to Hagerstown, and another running east to Boonesboro', 
and across the South Mountain Range to Frederick. Three miles west is 
Shepardstown, on the Potomac, which can be forded at low tide. A mile 
east of Sharpsburg is Antietam Creek, which rises north of Hagerstown, 
runs south between high, steep banks, and empties into the Potomac three 
miles south of Sharpsburg. It can be forded in many places. 



. INVASION OF MARYLAND. 313 

Daybreak, September 15th, McClellan's troops are in possession of 
South Mountain, seven miles from Antietam. Thirty-five brigades are 
ready to advance. Lee has fourteen brigades, under Longstreet and Hill, 
which at that hour are making their way westward across Antietam River. 

The cannon have been at work all the morning at Harpers Ferry, but 
at eight o'clock the reverberations die away. The. white flag has been 
Hung out and the place surrendered. 

The Union cavalry under Pleasanton are at that moment dashing 
upon the Confederate cavalry, Lee's rear-guard at Boonesboro', capturing 
two cannon and two hundred and fifty prisoners. At the same hour 
General McClellan issued orders for the army to move on ; but at half- 
past twelve the Ninth Corps liad not started. Late in the afternoon, after 
a march of seven miles, Richardson's division of Sumner's corps reached 
the eastern bank of the Antietam to find Longstreet and Hill upon the 
western bank. Far different the marching of Stonewall Jackson's men. 
They have made the sixty-mile march from Frederick to Harj)er's Ferry, 
have captured the eleven thousand Union troops, and now are making the 
twenty-five-mile march back again to Sharpsburg. Through the afternoon, 
through the night of the 15th, they are pushing on, and at eight o'clock 
on the morning of the 16tli are at Shepardstown. Before sunset on the 
16th Jackson's whole force, except A. P. Hill's division, together with 
McLaws's and Walker's, are at Sharpsburg. 

Through the forenoon of the IGth General McClellan, with his staff, 
is riding up and down the eastern bank of the Antietam, looking at the 
position of the Confederates, receiving the cheers of his troops. Not till 
afternoon does he decide what to do. Before noticing the movements of 
the army, let us walk up the turnpike towards Hagerstown. It is a beau- 
tiful country of rolling fields, patches of woodland, and farm-houses. We 
look down over the slopes to the winding Antietam beyond. Ten miles 
away is the South Mountain Range, with the white houses of Boonesboro' 
nestling at its western base. Nearer is the village of Keedysville. Every- 
where there are beautiful fields, waving with ripening corn. 

Just out from the village we look to the right upon a great barn and 
a small cottage, the home of Mr. Pij)er, a quarter of a mile from the turn- 
pike. Farther up the pike, three-quarters of a mile from Sharpsburg, we 
see a lane turning off to the right which leads down to Mr. Muma's and 
Mr, Rulet's farms. We turn east through their farms to the turnpike, 
which runs east from Sharpsburg to Keedysville. The rains have washed 
it, and it is lower than the surrounding fields. Keep this road in mind, 
for we shall see it again by-and-by. 



314 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Going back to the Ilagerstown turnpike we come to a low, square 
brick building on the left — a little church where the Dunkers meet for 
worship. Beliind the church, and north of it, is a beautiful grove of oaks. 
East of the church is a cornlield, with another grove of oaks. Another 
half-mile brings us to Dr. Miller's house, on the east side of the turnpike, 
with his barn west of the road. There is a cornlield beliind the barn. A 
little farther we come to Mr. Poffenbui'ger's house, on tlie east side. If we 
were to walk down the narrow lane which branches off from the turnpike 
in front of Poffenburger's towards the north-west, a mile would bring us 
to the Potomac. Turning south-west from Poffenburger's, and walking 
down another narrow lane, we come to a large white house owned by Mr. 
Nicodemus. Going through his door-yard, and walking west fifty rods, 
we come to a beautiful swell of land. AVe see that a cannon planted 
there can throw shells in every directiqii — that it has the sweep of all the 
country. 

It is only two miles from the Potomac to the Antietam. General Lee 
sees that by forming a line from the hill on Mr. Nicodemus's farm to tlie 
Antietam he will have a great advantage of position, and will not be under 
the necessity of protecting his flank and rear. It is a strong line of swells 
of land, hollows, groves, ledges, rail-fences, cornfields, orchards, stone walls. 
These are the natural defences. In addition, the soldiers dig a trench and 
build a breastwork from the stone ledges w^est of the Dunker church to 
the turnpike south of it. Lee throws out his advanced line to the ridge 
east of Joseph Poffenburger's house, extending it south through the east 
grove of woods to Mr. Muma's field. This front line is half a mile east 
of the church. 

It was two o'clock in the afternoon of September 16th when the Penn- 
sylvania Keserves, under General Meade, crossed the Antietam. They en- 
countered Jackson's pickets on Mr. Hoffman's farm. There was a sharp 
skirmish and a cannonade, which lasted till dark, the Confederates being 
driven l:)ack to Mr. Poffenburger's. At dark the Pennsylvanians lay down 
upon their arms in a cornfield. 

General Mansfield's corps crossed the Antietam during the night and 
halted a mile in rear of General Hooker, while General Sunmer's troops 
remained east of the Antietam. General Burnside, with the Ninth Corps, 
moved south on the east bank of the stream and bivouacked at the base 
of Elk Ridge, to be in position to cross by a stone bridge which now 
bears his name. 

General McClellan's plan was to attack Lee's left \vith Hooker's and 
Mansfield's corps, suj^ported by Sumner, and as soon as matters looked 



INVASION OF MARYLAND. ' 315 

favorable there, to have Bnrnside cross and attack south of Sharpsburg. 
lie held Porter east of Antietam in reserve. 

The morning of the 17th was threatening, and heavy clouds hung upon 
the summits of South Mountain. At five o'clock Hooker's men rise from 
the furrows in the cornfield, shake the dew-drops from their hair, roll their 
blankets, kindle their fires, and eat their breakfasts. 

In the field west of the Dunker church the soldiers of Hood's Confed- 
erate division were kindling their fires, breaking open barrels of flour, 
wetting it with water, and baking cakes in the ashes. General Hood had 
held the line in the east woods till midnight, when Lawton, Law, and 
Trimble relieved him. 

The Union pickets began the battle, aiming at the dusky forms stirring 
amid the corn-leaves. Then the batteries opened. A shell from a Con- 
federate cannon burst in the Sixth Wisconsin, disabling eight men, before 
the regiment made any movement. 

Doubleday's brigade, north-east of Poffenburger's house, held Hooker's 
extreme right. Then came Meade's division, with Ricketts's division in 
rear. Mead was to lead the advance, and his troops pressed on after the 
skirmishers towards the woods east of Dr. Miller's house. 

On the Confederate side Lawton's division of Jackson's corjDs held 
the position. Ripley's brigade, of D. H. Hill's division, was between the 
woods and Mr. Muma's house. McClellan's batteries — thirty cannon — 
east of the Antietam, opened fire, sending solid shot and shell upon 
Lawton, Ripley, and Hill. 

" It enfiladed my line, and was a damaging fire," said Jackson in his 
report. 

But Jackson's batteries replied, and the cannonade rolled along the 
valleys, announcing to the people of Hagerstown, Boonesboro', and Sharps- 
burg that a great battle had begun. 

General Ricketts advanced with Christian's and Duryea's brigades, and 
with the Pennsylvania Reserves moving towards the cornfield south of 
Miller's house, driving the Confederates. They reached the middle of the 
field, but were met by a withering fire from Lawton's, Hays's, Trimble's, 
Walker's, and Douglas's brigades of Jackson's command. 

The men dropped thick and fast on both sides, some killed instantly, 
others hobbling away : the Confederate wounded towards the woods by 
the Dunker church, the LTnion wounded towards the east woods. The 
Confederate cannon planted around the church hurled shells from the 
front, while the batteries on the hill behind the house of Mr. Nicodemus 
enfiladed the Union line. 



316 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Hooker had, in all, about ten thousand men — ten brigades. Double- 
day was reaching out west of the turnpike by Poffenburger's house. If 
Hooker had known just how Jackson's line was formed — if he had known 
that the hill behind Kicodemus's house commanded the entire field as far 
south as Muma's house — he would not have advanced towards the Dun- 
ker church, but would have reinforced Doubleday and carried the hill. 
But he could not see how commanding a position it was ; so from that 
hill the shot and shells came with terrible effect. 

In the cornfield, in Mr. Miller's orchard, all over the ground between 
the east and west woods, the struggle went on, Jackson bringing in all his 
troops, with the exception of Early's brigade, and all his artillery, and 
sending in haste for Hood to help him. General Starke, commanding the 
Stonewall division, was killed ; also Colonel Douglas, commanding Law- 
ton's brigade. Lawton, commanding EwelFs division, and Walker, com- 
manding a brigade, were wounded. More than half of Lawton's and 
Hays's, more than one-third of Trimble's, and all the regimental com- 
manders in these brigades, except two, went down. 

On the Union side llicketts loses one hundred and fifty-three killed 
and eight hundred and ninety-eight wounded. Of Phel^^s's brigade nearly 
one-half were killed or wounded. 

By half-past seven o'clock the first act of the drama is over. The mus- 
ketry dies away, but the cannonade goes on — Battery B, Fourth United 
States Artillery, Cooper's and Easton's Pennsylvania batteries, and Edget's 
!N^ew Hampshire, on the ridge by Poffenburger's, sending a continuous 
storm of shells into the woods beyond Xicodemus's house, whence came 
another storm, riddling Poffenburger's house and barn, upsetting his bee- 
hives, ploughing the ground in his garden, exploding in the rail-fences, 
and whirring away over the heads of the worn and weary men lying upon 
the ground. Hooker's batteries kept up the fire to prevent Jackson from 
assuming the offensive, and the Confederate guns replied — possibly to pre- 
vent a renewal of the attack, which had all but succeeded. 

The cannonade dies away, and the gunners throw themselves upon the 
ground to rest a while, kindle their fires, and drink a cup of coffee. 

At early morn I mounted my horse in Hagerstown, where I had ar- 
rived on the preceding evening, upon its evacuation by Longstreet. The 
people of the town were at the windows and in the streets, listening to the 
reverberations rolling along the valley. The wind was from the south- 
west, a gentle breeze ; the clouds were sweeping the tree-tops of South 
Mountain. I had a seven-mile ride before me to reach the field, and half 
resolved to go down the turnpike to Sharpsburg, gain the rear of the Con- 



INVASION OF MARYLAND. 



317 




iMAP OF ANTIETAM. 



318 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

federates, and see the battle from that side. I was in citizen's dress, and 
might not be turned back by the Confederates ; bnt the people of Hagers- 
town dissuaded me from attempting it. 

The uproar begins again, and a rattle of musketry, like the pattering of 
the first drops of rain upon a roof, then a roll, crash, roar, and rush like a 
mighty ocean billow. Riding rapidly down the Boonesboro' Road, I came 
upon a Confederate soldier who was lying beneath a tree, wrapped in his 
blanket. He doubtless thought that I was a Union cavalryman, and raised 
his hand imploringly, as if to ask me not to shoot him. He was thin and 
pale, had dropped in the retreat, and had not strength enough to move on. 
There was fever in his hollow cheeks, and I left him with the conviction 
that he never again would see his Southern home, and that ere many days 
he would be at rest forever — life's battle ended. 

Another mile, and I came upon the drift-wood of the Union army. 
Every army has soldiers faint of heart in battle. I came upon one group 
in bright, new uniforms — fresh soldiers, who were fleeing from this their 
first battle. 

" AVhere does this road lead to ?" one asked, with white lips. 

" To Hagerstown ; but where are you going ?" 

" Our division has been ordered to Hagerstown, and we are going 
there to join it." 

I knew that he was not telling the truth. They hastened on, cowards 
for the moment. 

Striking across fields towards the white powder-cloud rising above the 
trees, I came upon the hospital, on the farm of Mr. Hoffman, where, at 
that early hour, there were long rows of wounded. Turning from the 
sickening scenes I ascended a hill, and came upon the men of Hooker's 
corps, who had opened the battle, learned the story of their conflict, and 
then rode on to Joseph Poffenburger's house, behind which were thirty 
cannon, and their muzzles pointing south-west. At the moment their 
brazen lips were cooling. There was a lull in the battle. All was quiet 
in the oak grove along the Hagerstown Turnpike. I could see no gleam- 
ing bayonets amid the trampled corn-rows west of D. R, Miller's barn. I 
did not know that the line of men in blue lying on the ground by 
Poffenburger's was the foremost line of the Army of the Potomac. I 
rode down through the door-yard, where the hollyhocks were opening 
their white and red bell-shaped flowers to the morning sun. The flower- 
beds in the garden were trampled. A Confederate shell had exploded 
among the beehives ; the Union soldiers had gathered the honey, and the 
swarms were angrily buzzing in the air. I went down the turnpike tow- 



INVASION OF MARYLAND. 319 

ards Miller's house, and came upon a Union soldier crouching beneath the 
wall. 

" Where are you going ?" he asked. 

" I thought tlmt I would go to the front.'' 

" The front ! You have passed it. I am on the skirmish line ; jou 
liad better get out of here mighty quick. The Rebs are in the corn, right 
there." 

I acted upon the timely advice and turned back ; none too soon, for a 
moment later solid shot and shells were screaming through the air. Goino- 
south, I came upon the Twelfth Corps, General Mansfield's. It had biv- 
ouacked a mile in rear of Hooker's, and did not arrive at the east woods 
till after eight o'clock. 

General Mansfield was an old man, white-haired, but his eye was keen, 
and he had a resolute will. He deploys his line from Dr. Miller's house 
south through the garden — the cornfield beyond. He has only two small 
divisions — Crawford's and Greene's. He rides along the line, his long, 
white hair streaming in the wind. He does not stop to consider that he 
is a conspicuous object ; that Confederate sharp-shooters are crouching in 
the corn west of the turnpike ; that some are but a few rods distant be- 
hind Dr. Miller's barn. He rides forward into the orchard south of the 
house. A minie- bullet comes from the cornfield, and he falls from his 
horse mortally wounded. General Williams succeeds to the command. 
Many of the soldiers of the Twelfth Corps are new, and this is their first 
battle ; but they are brigaded with veterans who have been through all 
the battles of the Peninsula and Bull Run, and move resolutely to the 
attack. 

At the word of command the line moves down the gentle slope, past 
Miller's house, across the turnpike, through the cornfield beyond, to the 
west woods. Suddenly they come upon sharp-shooters crouched behind 
the trees, who retreat as the line advances. On through the woods moves 
the line to the western edge, to come upon Hood's division, posted be- 
hind limestone ledges and a rail-fence. Sheets of flame burst from the 
hill, where Stuart's cannon hurl canister upon the men in blue under 
Crawford. The Confederates are well protected, the Union troops whol- 
ly exposed. 

In the thick of the fight General Hooker is wounded, and the com- 
mand of the right wing devolves upon General AVilliams. He has no 
force in reserve. Hooker's corps is too much broken to come to his sup- 
port. Hartsuff's and Gibbon's brigades have joined in the attack, but 
there are no others at hand. Mansfield expected that Sedgwick's divis- 



320 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 




SCENE BY RAIL-FENCE, ANTIETAM. 



ion of Sumner's corps would attack by the Dunker church, but that di- 
vision is nearly a mile in the rear, moving slowly. If it were present, 
D. H. Hill would not be rushing from the field soutli of the church to 
roll back Greene's division. The Union lines are melting away, and are 
gradually forced back over the field, tliickly strewn now with their fallen 
comrades. 

The second act in the terrible drama is over — badly managed on the 
part of the Union commanders, but admirably by Jackson, who has shift- 
ed his troops to meet every emergency. He has had all the advantage 
of position, and nearly, if not fully, as many troops as Hooker in the 
first attack, and more than Mansfield in the second. General McClellan, 
by sending in a corps at a time, frittered away his strength. Only Hook- 
er's and Mansfield's had been ordered across the Antietam to attack the 
Confederate left. It was twenty minutes past seven in the morning when 
Sumner received his orders to cross the stream. He had been in position 
on the eastern bank for thirty-six hours, and might have opened the at- 
tack before sunset on the 15th, but no orders had come to him. 

Through the morning the men of this corps have heard the deafening 
cannonade and the rolls of musketry. They meet wounded men, and hear 
doleful stories of disaster. Sumner forms Sedgwick's division in a col- 
umn of brigades, Dana's in front ; close behind it Gorman's, and then 



INVASION OF MARYLAND. 321 

Howard's, General Sumner is between sixty and seventy years of age, 
a brave and grim old man, wlio has seen a great deal of liardship on the 
Western plains with the cavalry, but w^ho, till the breaking out of the 
war, had but little experience with infantry. He makes a mistake in thus 
forming liis line, and not holding a portion of the troops to protect his 
left flank. Possibly he thinks that General French, who is to attack by 
Muma's house, will shield him on the left ; but French's division is far 
behind, just turning into the fields south of Mr. Hoffman's house. 

General Sumner does not mistrust that there are ten Confederate bri- 
gades lying concealed in the hollow and behind the fences between the 
Dunker church and Muma's house, ready to swing upon his rear as Sedg- 
wick moves towards the church ; but there they are, waiting their great 
opportunity. 

Hot blasts from the Confederate guns behind the church beat upon 
Dana's line as it moves across the turnpike. Gorman is on the turnpike, 
How^ard just east of it, when suddenly the men in gray rise from the hol- 
lows in Muma's field. Sumner is talking with Colonel Kimball, of the 
Fifteenth Massachusetts, when Major Philbrick of that regiment shouts, 
" See ! the Kebels !" 

"My God ! We must get out of this!" Sumner exclaims. He is in 
front of the church, between Gorman's and Dana's brigades, and rides 
back to Dana's advancing line. " Change front !" he shouts. The line 
comes to a halt. Officers run hither and thither. The men have been 
advancing south-west ; they must get into position to face south-east. Gen- 
eral Howard, commanding the rear brigade, sees the Confederate line fold- 
ino' round his left flank. The reo^iment on the extreme left of his line 
is the Seventy -second Pennsylvania, and is the first to feel the blow. 
The bravest men in the world, standing as they find themselves, would 
be no more than sticks and straws in a whirlwind at that moment. Five 
minutes ago Sedgwick's brigades were advancing over the smooth and 
level field ; now all is confusion. Howard and Dana swing as best they 
can to meet the onset. Gorman, instead of pushing on, begins to fall 
back, not over the ground where he has advanced, but northward towards 
Miller's and Poffenburger's. 

The struggle is short, but 'the loss fearful. In a very few minutes 
more than two thousand of Sedgwick's men are killed or wounded, and 
the whole division driven back to the east woods. But the Union batter- 
ies open with canister, and the ten Confederate brigades are driven in turn 
to the shelter of the hollows in Muma's fields, and into the woods by the 
church. 
21 



322 DRUxM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

When the Fifteenth Massachusetts regiment advanced towards the 
church it numbered five hundred and eighty-two ; in twenty minutes three 
hundred and forty-three had been killed or wounded. Yery severe were 
tlie losses of the Confederates in this short melee. 

" Here I witnessed," says General Hood, " the most terrible clash of 
arms by far that has occurred during the war." 

The disaster to Sedgwick had come about through the formation of 
the entire division as an assaulting colunm, with not even a skirmish line 
of flankers. Had Sumner waited till French's and Richardson's divisions 
were in line, far different would have been this story of the battle. 

General French's division of Sumner's corps followed Sedgwick, cross- 
ing the Antietam, turning to the left, and marching through the fields tow- 
ards the house of Mr. Muma. Richardson filed to the left, moved along the 
bank of the river, crossed a little brook which springs from the hill-side 
near Rulet's house, encountered Hill's skirmishers, drove them up the 
ravine, and formed his line under cover of a hill. 

French is in the ravine, with half of his division north of the brook, 
tlie other half south. He has Weber's, Kimball's, and Morris's brigades, 
and forms them as Sedgwick did his, in three lines — Weber in front, 
Morris in the second, and Kimball in the third line. 

Morris's men have never been under fire. They are new troops, they 
have heard the roar of battle through the morning ; and now, as they ad- 
vance across the fields, the batteries on the hills all around Rulet's house 
open upon them, gun after gun, battery after battery. The hill -side 
grows white ; a silver cloud floats down the ravine and enfolds them ; 
there are flashes, jets of smoke, iron bolts in the air above, tearing up 
the ground below or cutting through the ranks ; they feel the breath of 
the shot, the puff of air in their faces, and hear the terrifying shriek. A 
comrade leaps into the air, spins round, or falls to the ground. They 
behold his torn and mangled body, but they see not the shot that 
wounded him. 

D. H. Hill has his front line in the ravine by Muma's. The Confed- 
erate soldiers have an opportunity to fill their canteens from the cool 
water bubbling up from the spring -house. The sharp-shooters are in 
Muma's chambers, firing from the windows at French's troops as they ad- 
vance over the field east of the house. The skirmishers in the burial- 
ground near the house rest their muskets upon the white head-stones. 

French arrives while Sedgwick is having the great struggle in front of 
the church. Kirby's, Bartlett's, and Owen's batteries, of Sedgwick's divis- 
ion, are on the hill-side east of Miller's field, rakinoj the Confederate lines. 



o — 



O S 3' 



tri S 3 



=■ Si 



S « ^ ^ 







INVASION OF MARYLAND. 325 

Tlie sharp-shooters occupying Muma's house and barn, finding the place 
too hot for them, apply the torch to the buildings, and retreat to Rulet's 
orchard. The dark pillar of cloud, the bright flames beneath, the con- 
stant flashing of the artillery, and the hill-sides alive with thousands of 
troops, their banners waving, tlieir baj^onets gleaming, is a terrible scene 
of grandeur. 

Weber's brigade advances steadily, throwing down the fences, scaling 
the stone walls, preserving a regular line. Not so with Morris's, which is 
thrown into confusion. The time has come to strike a great blow. 

" Tell General Kimball to move to the front and come in on the left 
of "Weber," is French's order to General Kimball. 

The brigade* swings towards the south, past Morris's brigade, enters 
the ravine, and pushes on towards Rulet's. 

Far up the hill-side, in Rulet's, Muma's, and T)r. Piper's cornfields, are 
the Confederates of Longstreet's and D. H. Hill's reserve brigades. On 
the hills south of Sharpsburg is A. P. Hill, just arriving from Harper's 
Ferry. All of the hills are smoking with artillery. Jackson's batteries 
by the church are still firing upon Howard, who, now that Sedgwick has 
been carried from the field, commands that division of Sumner's corps. 

Just beyond Muma's the road is sunk below the surface of the ground. 
It has been used many years, has been washed by rains, forming a natural 
rifle-pit, in which D. H. Hill posts his first line. Between this pathway 
and the pike is a cornfield, in which he stations his second line, with his 
artillery planted on the knoll higher up, near the turnpike. 

It is but a few rods from Muma's to the road — " Bloody Lane " since 
the battle. There is an apple orchard west of Rulet's house, beyond which 
the ground rises sharp and steep — a rounded knoll, sloping towards the 
west into the sunken path. 

The line of advance taken by Weber carries him directly towards the 
smoking ruins of Muma's buildings, while Kimball passes between Muma's 
and Rulet's. 

Weber's troops move over the mown field, past the burial-ground, leap- 
ing the fences. Some of the men pause a moment, rest their rifles on the 
rails and tombstones, and take a long shot at the dark line in the corn-field. 
They cannot see the nearer line of Hill's division lying in the hidden road. 

Kimball, a little farther south, joining his right to Weber's left, sweeps 
on in splendid order past Muma's spring-house, his left wing touching the 
apple-trees around Rulet's. The Union batteries east of the Antietam — 
the twenty-pounder Parrotts — Richardson's batteries on the hillocks be- 
yond the ravine — Kirby, Owen, Thompson, and Bartlett, are all at work. 



326 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Smith's division of Franklin's corps — tlie Sixth — which has arrived 
from Crampton's Gap, advances to protect the riglit flank of French, con- 
fronting the Confederate troops that liave driven Sedgwick from the field. 

Under cover of tliis fire French moves np the hilL His men reach 
the crest and behold a rail-fence between them and the road. Suddenly 
thousands of men seem to rise out of the ground. The work of death be- 
gins. French's men, instead of fleeing from this unexpected foe, intrenched 
in so strong a position, rush with a loud hurrah towards the fence. The 
lines are not ten paces apart. Hill's is consumed like a straw in a candle's 
flame, it melts like lead in a crucible ; ofiicers and men go down, falling 
in heaps. The few who are left after the tremendous volleys flee into 
the cornfield beyond. French's men tear away the rails, leap over the 
fences, plunge into the road, trampling down the dead and dying, rush 
upon the second line with uncontrollable fury, scattering it in an instant. 

I am in rear of the line, upon a knoll, with the scene like a panorama 
before me. French's men come to the house and spacious barn of Ixulet. 
The lines divide, but unite once more beyond. I see the blue uniforms 
beneath the a2')ple-trees in the orchard. The sunlight glints from barrel 
and bayonet. There comes a crash of musketry — lightning flashes, white 
powder-clouds. Above the uproar I hear the Union cheer, the Confeder- 
ate yell. 

There are turning-points in the lives of men. A parting of ways has 
come to McClellan. He is sitting in an arm-chair across the Antietam, 
beholding the scene through a telescope, but does not see the golden 
moment. Fitz-Jolm Porter's corps is there, eleven thousand men. Were 
he to hurl them upon the discomfited Confederates he would divide Lee's 
army at the centre. 

AVhile French was thus dealing with General D. H, Hill, Richardson 
was engaging Longstreet. General Meagher, witli his Irish brigade, was 
on the right, the tip of its -wing touching Rulet's garden. Caldwell's bri- 
gade was on the left, reaching down nearly to the Boonesboro' Turnpike. 
Brooke's brigade was in reserve. 

Lcngstreet's batteries were on the hills around Dr. Piper's, and his 
troops — a part of them — in the road, the upper end of which was held 
by D, H. Hill. His line was so formed, and such was the ground, that 
Caldwell, instead of swinging round upon Sharpsburg, was obliged to fall 
in rear of Meagher, and became a second line instead of a part of the first. 

French was pouring in his volleys north of Rulet's, and Meagher, 
climbing the knolls and rushing up the ravines, came upon the enemy in 
the road. It was a rej^etition, or rather a continuation, of the scene then 



INVASION OF MARYLAND. 327 

enacting a few rods farther north. The Irish brigade fought till their 
ammunition was exhausted. They drove the Confederates from the 
road, and held it. Again and again Longstreet endeavored to recover it. 
General Richardson was wounded, and carried from the field. General 
Meagher was bruised by the falling of his horse. His men, worn, ex- 
liausted, half their number killed and wounded, retired by breaking ranks 
and filing to the rear, Cald well's troops filing to the front at the same 
moment, and taking their places. It was done as deliberately as if it were 
a dress parade. 

The ground towards the Boonesboro' pike is very much broken. There 
are numerous hillocks and ravines, cornfields, stone walls, and fences. Un- 
der shelter of these Longstreet stealthily moved a division to attack Cald- 
well's right flank in the cornfield west of the sunken road. It was a part 
of the force attacking French. Brooke's brigade went upon the run up 
the ravine, and filled the gap between Caldwell and Kimball, and held it 
against all the assaults of the enemy. 

On Caldwell's left the sunken road winds among the hills. Longstreet 
still held that ground. Colonel Barlow reconnoitred thes situation. He 
commanded the Sixty-first and Sixty-fourth 'New York regiments, and 
ordered thera to march by the left flank. They pushed out into the fields 
towards Sharpsburg, gained the fiank of the enemy still holding the road, 
and forced three hundred to surrender. He also captured their colors. 

There is once more a lull in the battle. Longstreet is making prepara- 
tions to regain his lost ground. Having failed on French's right, by liu- 
let's, he renews the attack on the left. But Colonel Cross, of the Fifth 
New Hampshire, who has fought the Indians of the Western plains, who 
has tracked the grisly bears of the Rocky Mountains, discovers the move- 
ment. It is the same which has been successful against Sedgwick. The 
left of Caldwell is far advanced towards Dr. Piper's when Colonel Cross 
sees Longstreet's troops making a rapid movement to gain a hill in his 
rear. He changes front, and his regiment goes upon the run to gain the 
hill. The two lines are within close musket-range. They make a parallel 
movement, firing as they run. It is an exciting race. Colonel Cross 
cheers his men, inspires them with his own untamable enthusiasm, gains 
the hill, faces his troops towards the enemy, and delivers a volley. It 
checks their advance a moment, but, rallied by the ofiicers, they rush on, 
charging up the hill. Cross, reinforced by the Eighty-first Pennsylvania, 
which has followed him, gives the word, " At them, boys !" He leads the 
countercharge. The Confederates break in confusion, leaving a stand of 
colors and three hundred prisoners in Cross's hands. 



328 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



Again Longstreet tries to drive back the centre and regain the road, 
and again Barlow repulses him, charging through the cornfield, almost 
up to the Ilagerstown Turnpike, and gaining Dr. Piper's house. Yin- 
cent's and Graham's 
batteries gallop to 
the hills south of Ru- 
let's, wheel into po- 
sition, and reply to 
the batteries on the 
hills along the turn- 
pike north of Pi- 
per's. Hancock, 
who now commands 
Richardson's divis- 
ion, can hold his 
ground, but he can- 
not advance. 

Thus, by one 
o'clock, Lee has been 
pushed from his ad- 
vanced lines on the 
right and on the left. 
He still holds the 
rocky ledges in the 
woods behind the 
church, and main- 
tains his position along the turnpike and holds the lower bridge, where 
Burnside is endeavoring to force a crossing. 

It was past one o'clock when Franklin's corj^s, with Smith's and Slo- 
cum's divisions, arrived. It had marched twelve miles. The soldiers were 
weary. Slocum's division relieves Sedgwick, while Smith occupies the 
ground near Rulet's house. There is a consultation of officers in the 
woods in rear of Slocum's position. Franklin wishes to attack with all 
his force. Irwin's brigade and the Vermont brigade are already engaged. 
General McClellan rides across the Antietam, comes upon the field, directs 
the commander to hold his position, but to make no attack. He rides bare- 
headed on his favorite horse along the lines. The troops cheer him. He 
takes a hasty look at the field, directs the commanders to hold their 
ground, but issues no other order, and rides back to his headquarters east 
of the Antietam. 




THE SUNKEN ROAD. 



INVASION OF MARYLAND. 329 

I went in that direction, and readied the headquarters, tlie ]iouse of 
Mr. Prj, a large, square mansion surrounded with trees. McClellan was 
seated in an arm-chair on the lawn, his staff were near by, their horses sad- 
dled and bridled. Stakes had been driven into the ground to support the 
telescopes through which McClellan and Fitz-Jolm Porter and other offi- 
cers were surveying the battle-iield. 

Four stone bridges cross the Antietam. Hooker and Mansfield had 
crossed the two upper ones. The next one is on the road leading west 
from Keedysville to Sharpsburg ; the fourth, farther south, is twelve feet 
wide and one hundred and fifty in length. General McClellan had or- 
dered General Burnside to carry the bridge, cross the stream, and attack 
Lee's right flank. The west bank is steep. There is a grove of oak-trees, 
a limestone quarry, and a stone wall, where General Toombs had placed 
his brigade, to pour deadly volleys upon the bridge. He had four pieces 
of artillery. 

Burnside places a line of batteries along the eastern bank, and all the 
morning the cannon throw solid shot and shell at the Confederates, mak- 
ing a great noise, but doing little damage. He forms his troops with Stur- 
gis's division on the right, Wilcox's in the centre, Rodman's on the left, 
with Cox's division, commanded by Crook, in reserve. 

" You are to carry the bridge, gain the heights beyond, and advance 
along their crest to Sharpsburg, and reach the rear of the enemy," was the 
order of McClellan to Burnside. 

There was no imperative need for such an order. It was not necessary 
that the bridge should be carried. The water in the Antietam was low, 
and it could be forded in many places ; but neither McClellan nor Burn- 
side thought of having the troops ford the stream. 

Several messengers were sent by McClellan to Burnside in the early 
morning, directing him to assault the bridge. 

" McClellan appears to think that I am not trying my best to carry the 
bridge. You are the third or fourth one who has been to me with similar 
orders," said Burnside to Major Sackett. 

The men must wind down a hill, cross a level plateau, and rush upon 
the bridge, climb the steep bank beyond, with cannon vomiting canister 
and shrapnel, and the riflemen of Toombs's command picking them off. 
from their place of concealment and protection in the stone quarries. 
Again and again the head of the assaulting column melted away. 

General Sackett says : " General Burnside ordered assaults to be made 
upon the bridge which were for a long time unsuccessful. I had been 
at his headquarters for fully three hours, when Colonel Key arrived from 



330 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



McCIellan's headquarters with positive orders to push across tlie bridge 
and to move rapidlj upon tlie heights ; to carry the bridge at the point 
of tlie bayonet, if necessary, and not stop for loss of life, as sacrifices must 
be made in favor of success." 

The Second Maryland and Sixth N^ew Hampshire troops, in column, 
charged upon the bridge. Instantly the west bank was a sheet of flame. 
The head of the charging column melted away, and the troops fell back 




BUKNSIDE BRIDGE. 



under cover of the ridge on the eastern bank. It was one o'clock before 
Burnside was ready for a second attack. Then the Fifty -first New York, 
Fifty-first Pennsylvania, Thirty-fifth and Twenty-first Massachusetts, and 
Seventh Connecticut rushed upon the bridge, carried it, drove Toombs 
from the stone quarry and walls, and the divisions, one by one, crossed 
the stream and deployed along the western bank. 

There had been a fearfnl sacrifice of life. After the bridge liad been 
carried a large portion of tRe troops forded the stream, which they might 
have done during the attack, if such an order had been issued. 



INVASION OF MARYLAND. 331 

At three o'clock tlie whole Ninth Corps advanced. Jackson and Hood 
were sending men upon the rnn southward to help Longstreet to resist 
Burnside's attack. It is a critical moment with Lee, but his heart is 
cheered by the arrival of A. P. Hill from Harper's Ferry. His soldiers 
go on the run across the fields. They have marched seventeen miles in 
seven hours. The brigades of Pender and Brockenbrough hold the ex- 
treme right. Then come the brigades of Branch, Gregg, and Archer, 
joining Toombs and D. R. Jones. From three o'clock till late in the 
afternoon the battle rages in the fields south of Sharpsburg. 

Burnside almost reaches the town, but his left flank, Podraan's divis- 
ion, is exposed. A. P. Hill attacks it sharply, and the troops fall back 
towards the Antietam. 

The sun is going down, red and large as seen through the murky 
battle - cloud. One of the Union batteries from my position seems to be 
in the sun. All of the Confederate caimon are in play. The wdiole 
landscape is flaming and smoking, but as darkness conies on the flashes 
cease, the thunder dies away. Groping my way amid the bivouac fires 
and along the lines, I come upon a group of soldiers who have eaten their 
supper of hard bread, and are whiling the hours away with song and story. 
Tender thoughts come as they think of comrades who never more will 
march with them or stand by their side in battle, and thoughts of loved 
ones far away. This the song I hear : 

"Do they miss me at home ? do they miss me? 
'Twould be an assurance most dear 
To know at this moment some loved one 
Were saying, 'I wish he were here.'" 

Through the night the troops rested on their arms. With the rising 
of the sun on the 18th the cannonade began. General Couch's division 
had arrived. McClellan had twenty-five thousand troops that had taken 
no part in the battle, yet no orders were issued to renew the struggle. 
He had eighty thousand men, and more troops were on their way. 

"Whether to renew the attack on the 18th or to defer it, even with 
the risk of the enemy's retirement, was a question with me," says Gen- 
eral McClellan. He decided to wait. He believed that Lee had one hun- 
dred thousand, but at no time during the battle of the 17th were there 
fifty thousand Confederates on the field. 

A white flag came out from the Confederate lines asking for an ar- 
mistice to gather up the wounded between the two armies. It was 
granted. I walked over the field in front of the Dunker church, where 



332 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

the conflict liad been so fierce. Tlie dead "were there in blue and gray. 
Upon the breast of one in bhie lay a pocket Bible, open at the Psalms. 
Looking at the page, I read, " Yea, though I walk through the valley of 
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil : for thou art with me ; thy rod 
and thy staff they comfort me." Upon the fly-leaf the sentence, written, 
doubtless, by a loving mother, " We hope and pray that you may be per- 
mitted by a kind Providence, after the war is over, to return " — a prayer 
never to be granted. The son had given his life to his country. 

The day passed, neither army renewing the attack ; but through the 
night the Union pickets could hear the tramping of feet, the rumble of 
cannon-wheels growing fainter in the distance, and mistrusted what the 
morning revealed — that the Confederates were retreating. "When the sun 
rose once more not a Confederate was to be seen ; all were south of the 
Potomac. McClellau gave orders for the army to advance. The various 
corps pushed on to Sharpsburg. General Porter's corps hui-ried down to 
the Potomac, forded the river, and formed on the southern shore, but 
found itself confronted by the Confederate artillery. The soldiers ad- 
vanced, but were driven with great loss. When they could have done 
great good they were not used ; when they were used they could accom- 
plish nothing. So the great battle was fruitless of results. 

The Union army has greatly outnumbered the Confederate, but it has 
attacked by divisions and frittered away its strength ; has lost between 
twelve and thirteen thousand in killed and wounded. How great the 
Confederate loss was will never be known. General Lee estimated the 
number at less than eleven thousand ; but from the crossing of the Poto- 
mac at Frederick to the recrossing after the battle, nearly twenty thou- 
sand had been lost from his ranks. 

Riding up the hill-side to the sunken road, I came upon the line of 
men who had gone down under the onslaught of French and Richardson, 
lying as the grass lies in the swathe of the mowers. They were in rows, 
like the ties of a railroad, in heaps like sticks of wood. The hot blast 
which had flamed in their faces had shrivelled Hill's lines as the simoom 
blasts the verdure of the forest. There were prostrate forms which in 
the full vigor of life had gone down with resolution and energy still lin- 
gering on their pallid cheeks. There was one with a cartridge between 
his thumb and finger, the end bitten off, and the paper between his teeth, 
when the fatal bullet pierced his heart, and all the naachinery of life 
came to an instant stand -still. A young lieutenant had fallen while 
trying to rally his men, his resolute energy was still on his face. In the 
cornfield beyond, fourteen Confederate dead were lying in a heap, the 



I 



INVASION OF MAEYLAND. 




SCENE AT THE SUNKEN ROAD. 



stalks and broad green leaves trampled and stained with the crimson life- 
flood. 

By the Hagerstown Turnpike the body of a Confederate sharp-shooter 
was hangino; on the limb of a tree. He had climbed into it for a com- 
manding position, and had been picked off by a Union soldier. The 
horses of a Confederate battery had gone down in a heap in the public 
square in Sharpsbur 

General McClellan was there. The troops were passing through the 
town. The complacent look which illuminated his countenance on the 
day of battle was no longer there. Those who had cheered him when 
he rode along the lines in front of Muma's burning buildings no longer 
swung their hats. That Lee had escaped when he might have been 
crashed was the manifest conviction. The unexplained inaction of the 
18th had brought about a marked change of sentiment among men and 
officers alike towards General McClellan. 



334: DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 

T\7E have followed the Army of the Potomac during the summer of 
^ * 1862, and now turn towards the west to see what the armies in 
that section of the country have been doing. 

The battle of Pittsburg Lauding was fought in April. In June the 
Confederate array under Beauregard retreated to Tu23elo, in Mississippi, 
wliere Beanregard was succeeded by General Bragg. 

On the Union side, General Ilalleck, who had commanded all the 
Union armies west of the Alleghanies, was called to Washington and 
nuade general - in - chief. lie made the mistake of dividing the army 
which had fought the battle of Pittsburg Landing, and scattering it in de- 
tachments all the w^ay from Memphis to Chattanooga. The army under 
General Grant, which had fought during the first day at Pittsbui-g Land- 
ing, held the country between Memphis and the little town of luka, twen- 
ty-five miles east of Corinth, on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. 
■ The army under General Buell was farther east. Opening the map, we 
see Iluntsville, in Alabama, a very pretty place, north of the Tennessee, 
where BuelFs right wing was stationed. It is one Inindred miles from 
luka. Going east from Iluntsville in a straight line sixty miles, we come 
to the little hamlet of Jasper, north of Chattanooga, M-here we find the 
left wing of his army. Some of the divisions are at Dechard. Buell is 
obliged to receive his supplies either from MemjDhis or Nashville, where 
there are depots filled with flour, beef, and pork. 

The army is not so large as it was in June, for the time of the soldiers 
who enlisted for a year has expired. They have gone home, and their 
places have not been filled by new recruits. 

General Bragg planned a movement of the Confederate army from 
Tupelo to Chattanooga. The trooj)s went in the cars south to Mobile, 
then north the entire length of Alabama to Chattanooga. The wagons 
moved across the country. By this movement he was in a position to 
strike General Buell's left flank. 



i 



INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 335 

His ranks, which liad been thinned by the battle of Pittsburg Land- 
ing, were once more filled up ; not by volunteers, but by men who had 
been forced into the army under the Conscription Act passed by the Con- 
federate Congress. 

The people of the South seceded from the Union in defence of State 
Rights, but they were beginning to see that State Rights were not re- 
garded by the Confederate Government ; that the government set up by 
the Confederate Congress was a despotism. If a conscript resisted, he 
was seized by force. If he secreted himself, he was hunted down. 

General Lee was moving north in Virginia, and General Bragg re- 
solved to march north and invade Kentucky, which would compel Gen- 
eral Buell to fall back to the Ohio River. At the same time General 
Kirby Smith was to march from East Tennessee due north into Eastern 
Kentucky, to Lexington, Fraidcfort, and on towards Cincinnati. Such 
movements, it was thought, would transfer the theatre of war to the 
banks of the Ohio. It was believed that there were thousands of young 
men in Kentucky who would join the Confederate army. Bragg hoped 
to capture Louisville and invade Ohio. 

Kentucky was rich in horses. The harvests had been gathered ; he 
could live upon the country. He would create terror in the Western 
States just as General Lee was creating consternation at Washington by 
his invasion of Maryland. 

The Confederate cavalry was far superior to the Union cavalry. At 
the beginning of the war the Union Government did not encourage the 
formation of regiments of cavalry because the outfit was so costly. On 
the other hand, the Confederates saw that cavalry, by making raj^id move- 
ments, could be used with great effect. 

At Murfreesboro' was a brigade of Union troops : the Third Minne- 
sota, Colonel Lester, and Ninth Michigan, Colonel Duftield, with four 
pieces of artillery and a company of cavalry. General Crittenden com- 
manded the post. The officers disagreed ; there was little discipline, and 
things generally were at loose ends. The officers forgot that "eternal 
vigilance is the price of liberty." General Forrest, commanding a bri- 
gade of Confederate cavalry, learned from his spies how things wei"e : that 
the Third Minnesota Regiment was encamped east of the town, and six 
companies of the Ninth Michigan west of it — they were three miles apart 
— and that one company of the Ninth was quartered in the court-house. 

It is not known how the negroes around Murfreesboro' discovered 
what Forrest intended to do, but it is certain that a negro came into toM'n 
and said, " Massa Forrest is coming witli a big ai-my, sure." 



336 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

" It is a nigger story," said the officers, who paid no attention to it. 

Daylight is streaming up the east on July 12tli when the Union pickets 
south of Murfreesboro' hear a clatter of hoofs upon the turnpike, and dis- 
cover a long line of cavalry coming like the wind. The pickets fire their 
guns. The guards in town hear the clatter of the tw^o thousand horses, 
and give the alarm. The soldiers in the court-house bar the doors. With 
a whoop and yell the Georgians and Texans galloped through the streets, 
capturing the Union guards and taking j^ossession of the town. Two of 
the Confederate regiments dashed upon the camp of the Xinth Michigan, 
but the regiment rallied and drove them. Forrest attacked the Third 
Minnesota, but Colonel Lester foi^med his troops and opened fire. For- 
rest dashed round to Lester's rear and attacked the camp, but was again 
driven. He went back to the Kintli Michigan, dismounted two of his 
regiments, sent the Second Georgia to get in rear of the Union troops, 
then hoisted a white flag, and sent a message to Dufiield, demanding his 
surrender, and Duffield com^jlied with this demand. Having captured 
these, he turned about and made the same demand upon Lester, who was 
too weak to resist. So seventeen hundred men, four cannon, six hun- 
dred mules and horses, and a million dollars' worth of supplies were lost. 
Forrest carried away w^hat he could and burned the rest. 

General IS^elson, commanding the nearest troops, started to capture 
Forrest ; but as he had no cavalry, Forrest trotted away eastward to 
McMinnville, then rode north fifty miles to Lebanon, then dashed west 
nearly to Xashville, captured one hundred and fifty guards along the rail- 
road, burned four bridges, and rode back to McMinnville. 

John H. Morgan, who was born at Lexington, Kentucky, and who had 
served in the Mexican War, was brave and daring. He had joined the 
Confederates, and raised a regiment of young men who were ready for any 
adventure. They were mostly Kentuckians acquainted with the country. 
General Bragg sent him to destroy the railroad between Louisville and 
Nashville over which General Buell received his supplies. He started from 
Knoxville, in East Tennessee, July 4th, with one thousand men, mounted 
on good horses ; crossed the Cumberland Mountains north-west, reached 
Tomj^kinsville, in Kentucky, one hundred and fifty miles from Knox- 
ville, and captured four companies of Union cavalry. Not stopping, he 
pushed on to Glasgow, forty miles north of Tompkinsville, and captured 
some supplies. He issued a proclamation calling upon all true Kentucki- 
ans to join him. A few wild and restless fellows enlisted. His horses 
were tired, and he rested one day, and then rode north to the railroad 
near Mammoth Cave, and destroyed a bridge across Barren River. 



INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 



337 



General Morgan had a very skilful telegraph operator, George Ells- 
worth, who had an instrument in his pocket, which he cpiickly attached to 
the wires. On July 10th Morgan and Ellsworth, with a body-guard of 
fifteen men, reached the Louisville and Nashville Road. Ellsworth clindjed 
the telegraph-pole, took down the wire, and put on his instrument. Prettv 
soon he read a message from General Boyle, who was in Louisville, to 
General Brown at Bowling Green. It was raining, but all through the 
evening Ellsworth read off the messages, learning all the news of the day, 
besides a great deal about military affairs. Morgan found out that Stan- 
ley Matthews was provost -marshal of Nashville, and so sent a despatch 




CAVALRY ENGAGEMENT. 



to Henry Dent, who was provost -marshal at Louisville. Thus it read: 
" General Forrest attacked Murfreesboro', routing our forces, and is now 
moving on Nashville. Morgan is reported to be between Scottsville and 
Gallatin, and will act in concert with Forrest." 

On the 12th Morgan reached Lebanon, and Ellsworth took possession 
of the telegraph-office at half-past three in the morning. He waited till 
half-past seven, when the instrument began to click. He found that the 
operator, whoever he was, was calling B, which he discovered from the 
book was the Lebanon office, and was signing himself Z. Ellsworth an- 
swered the call. Then came the questions and answers : 
99 



338 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

" What news ? Any skirmishing after your last message ?" 

" Xo ; we drove what little cavalry there was away." 

" Has the train arrived yet ?" 

" No. About how many troops will there be ?" 

" Five hundred." 

Ellsworth did not know what office he was talking with, but deter- 
mined to find out, and sent this message : "A gentleman has bet the cigars 
that you cannot spell the name of your station correctly." 

"Take the bet. L-e-b-a-n-o-n J-u-n-c-t-i-o-n. How did he think I 
would spell it ?" 

" He gives it up. He thought you would put in two b's in Lebanon." 

" Ho ! ho ! He's a green one." 

" Yes, that's so. What time did the train with soldiers pass ?" 

" At half-past eight last night." 

" Very singular where the train is." 

" Yes ; let me know when it arrives." 

But the train did not arrive. A few minutes, and Ellsworth heard from 
the Union operator that it had gone back to Lebanon Junction, and that 
the soldiers on the train had had a skirmish with some of Morgan's cavah 
ry. General Morgan went to Midway, where Ellsworth again telegraphed. 
For several days he used the wires, sending a great many messages, and 
intercepting all the Union despatches. Tlie Union officers in Lonisville, 
Nashville, and everywhere else were greatly mystified over the orders 
which they received. Morgan upset all their plans. 

From Somerset, on July 22d, he sent this despatch to General Boyle, 
the Union commander at Louisville — his old friend: " Good -morning, 
Jerry. This telegraph is a great institution. You should destroy it, as it 
keeps me too well posted. My friend Ellsworth has all your despatches 
since the 10th of July on file. Do you wish copies ?" 

He sent this to Hon. George Diinlap, anotlier old friend: "Just com- 
pleted my tour through Kentucky. Captured sixteen cities, destroyed 
millions of dollars' worth of United States property, paroled fifteen hun- 
dred Federal prisoners. Passed through your county, but regret not see- 
ing you." 

Morgan went north to Cynthiana, only fifty miles from Cincinnati ; but 
finding Union troops were closing around him, he retreated to Tennessee. 

A month passes. Bragg is getting ready to move, and so is Kirby 
Smith, who is at Knoxville, and who is to invade Eastern Kentucky. He 
sends Colonel Scott, with nine Inindred cavalry and several pieces of artil- 
lery, in advance; he passes through Monticello, and crosses the old battle- 



INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 339 

ground at Mill Springs. On the 29th General Smith approaches Ricli- 
raond, only thirty miles south of Lexington. 

General Nelson, who commands the Union troops in this section of 
the State, has stationed Manson's and Cruft's brigades at Richmond. The 
troops numbered nearly seven thousand, but they were new recruits. 
There was a skirmish and battle, with l)ad management on the part of 
Manson. His army was thrown into confusion, and he ordered a retreat. 
The Confederates pressed on and captured many prisoners. General Nel- 
son arrived from Lexington, and rallied the fugitives at Richmond, but 
was wounded. Manson was captured, and all the artillery, with three 
thousand of the Union troops. In a day the only Union force that could 
oppose General Smith was swept away. 

With banners flying and drums beating, the victorious Confederates 
marched on to Lexington, the most important town in central Kentucky. 
Many of the soldiers in his army are Kentuckiaus, and the sympathies of 
a large portion of the people are for the Confederacy. Ladies wave their 
handkerchiefs from the M^indows ; little girls pick flowers from the gar- 
dens and strew them in the streets; women stand in their door-ways 
with baskets of provisions ; merchants present the soldiers with boots 
and slices. 

No Union force confronts General Smith. He can move on towards 
Louisville, cut off Buell from that city, and take j^ossession of it, perhaps. 
At any rate, he will be in position to join General Bragg, who is ad- 
vancing from Chattanooga. General Smith can move due north, and 
strike a blow at Cincinnati. Which shall he do? If he can threaten 
Cincinnati, it will frighten the people of Ohio and prevent the forwarding 
of troops to Louisville to head off Bragg. He decides to move north. 
He will be in a rich and fertile section, and besides, he has another object 
in view — the setting up of a Confederate government in Kentucky. Jef- 
ferson Davis believes that if a government favorable to the Confederacy 
can but be established the people of the State will rally round it. 

Young men are flocking to Lexington to join Kirby Smith's ranks ; 
and with a civil government' to direct affairs, he indulges the belief that 
the State can be saved to the Confederacy. He little comprehends how 
deep is the attachment of the majority of the jjeople for tiie Union, He 
marches north, keeping his cavalry in advance. On September 15th he 
is so near Cincinnati that he can hear the whistles of the steamboats. 
But if he ever seriously thought of capturing Cincinnati, he discovers 
that it will not be an easy task. In a night strong fortifications liave 
risen on all the hills around Covino-ton. An energetic . man is in com- 



340 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

inand — General Lew. Wallace, All the sIioids and stores in Cincinnati 
are closed, and forty thousand men are at work with axes and shovels, 
and are mounting cannon. Troops have come from all parts of Ohio 
and Indiana. The steamboats have howitzers mounted on their decks to 
patrol the river. Before capturing the city the Union troops must be 
driven from the fortifications ; the river must be crossed before the Con- 
federate troops can seize the spoils. General Smith is too good a soldier 
to attempt such an enterprise. lie can threaten, but not attack. He 
waits for General Bragg. 

On August 21st General Bragg began to cross the Tennessee Eiver at 
Chattanooga. The mountains lie in ridges, and run from the north-east 
to the south-west. Chattanooga is in tlie valley of the Tennessee Kiver. 
By moving his troops to Chattanooga, General Bragg had placed himself 
east of one of the ranges, while the Union army under General Buell was 
west of it. 

General Bragg determined to mask his movement by sending out his 
cavalry to annoy Buell. General Forrest started with his brigade and 
reached Short Mountain Cross-roads, where Captain Miller, with a portion 
of the Eighteenth Ohio, was stationed. Miller had built a stockade. 
His men had just eaten dinner, and were a short distance away, when they 
heard the clattering of hoofs and saw the Confederate cavalry charging 
down the road. Miller got into the stockade with a portion of his men, 
while those who were cut off by the cavalry fled to the woods. The men 
of the Eighteenth Ohio fought so resolutely that Forrest was obliged to 
retreat, with a loss of twelve killed and forty-one wounded. The next day 
he came upon the Twenty- sixth Ohio, under Colonel Fyffe, nine miles 
west of McMinnville. Fyffe formed his regiment in line of battle, and 
attacked the Confederates so suddenly and vigorously that they fled in 
every direction. 

General Morgan was more successful. He crossed the Cumberland 
River at Ilartsville and rode rapidly to Gallatin, twenty-five miles north- 
east of Nashville, where he captured two hundred Union troops, burned a 
railroad bridge, captured a train of freight-cars, ran it into a tunnel north 
of Gallatin, set the cars on fire, and loosened the timbers which supported 
the roof of the tUnnel, which came down with a crash, filling the excava- 
tion with great masses of rock. No trains could pass, and Nashville was 
cut off from Louisville. 

General Buell sent General R. W. Johnson with six hundred and forty 
cavalry of the Second Indiana, Fourth and Fifth Kentucky, and Seventh 
Pennsylvania regiments to attack Morgan, but after a hard fight near 



INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 



341 




THE SORTIE OP BRAGG. 



Gallatin, Johnson was defeated and captnred, with a portion of his com- 
mand, while the remainder were put to flight. 

The women of the town rejoiced over the defeat of the Union troops. 
They waved their handkerchiefs, and provided nice things for the Con- 
federate soldiers. 

Over the mountain-range called Waldron's Ridge marched the Con- 
federate army of forty thousand men, and thence to the Cumberland Riv- 
er, crossing it at Carthage, forty miles east of Nashville. General Bragg 
was nearer Louisville and Cincinnati than General Buell, W'ho was south 



342 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

of I^asliville. Ilis plan was to compel Buell to fall back to the Oliio 
River, and he hoped tluis to secure Kentucky to the Confederacy. 

IS^orthward along the turnpike leading from Carthage to Munfords- 
ville pressed the Confederates, the cavalry, under Colonel Scott, burning 
the bridges spanning Salt Kiver. The roads were dry and dusty. The 
summer heat had dried the streams ; the rivers could be forded anywhere. 
The troops suffered for want of water. The secessionists of Kentucky 
welcomed them with hurrahs, while those who stood up for the Union 
saw their cornfields stripped and their hay-stacks disappear. 

On September 13th General Bragg's advance, under General Chal- 
mers, reached Munfordsville, where there was a fort garrisoned by Union 
troops, under Colonel Wilder, of the Seventeenth Indiana. A Confeder- 
ate officer approached the fort with a white flag, and called upon Wilder 
to surrender. "I decline to do so," was the reply. 

Chalmers opened fire, and his skirmishers advanced, but were driven 
back, and he waited for reinforcements before attacking in earnest. 

Reinforcements meantime arrived in the fort— Colonel Dunham, with 
one thousand men and Konkle's battery. Colonel Dunham, being Wild- 
er's senior officer, assumed command. Again the white flag appeared, 
with a demand to surrender, and Colonel Dunham declined. 

Chalmers had six regiments, twelve cannon, a brigade of cavalry, and 
a battalion of sharp-shooters. He deployed his line and opened fire. The 
cannon thundered, and there were volleys of musketry, but Chalmers did 
not dare to risk a charge. General Bragg arrived with the main body of 
the army. A third time the Confederates displayed a white flag, and an 
officer brought a note from Bragg, who informed Dunham that the fort 
was surrounded by an overwhelming force. Again Dunham refused to 
surrender. He sent the answer by Colonel Wilder, who saw that what 
Bragg had stated was true — that the whole Confederate army was drawn 
up around the fort. Dunham thereupon called his officers together, and 
they decided that it was better to surrender than to have a battle, with the 
prospect of great loss and almost certain defeat. So at two o'clock on the 
morning of September ITth the fort was surrendered, the officers to re- 
tain their swords, the troops to be paroled, and to have four days' rations. 

At daylight on the 17th — the hour when Hooker was advancing 
through the cornfield in front of the Dunker church at Antietam — this 
force of fifteen hundred men at Munfordsville — the only troops in front 
of Bragg — was swept from his path. By a rapid march he could get 
to Louisville before Buell could overtake him ; but he did not attempt it. 
At the inoment when he ought to have marched swiftly and struck a 



INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 343 

great blow, lie hesitated. He waited at Prewitt's Knob till Biiell was 
close upon him, deploying his troops to attack ; then, instead of fighting 
a battle, pushed north-east to Bardstown, while Buell, instead of follow- 
ing, and forcing him to light, marched to Louisville. Bragg had accom- 
plished what he intended — forced the Union army to fall back from 
northern Alabama to the Ohio. He issued this proclamation to the peo- 
ple of Kentucky : 

"Kentuckians! we have come with joyful hopes. Let us not depart in sorrow, as we 
shall, if we find you wedded iu your choice to your present lot. If you prefer Federal 
rule, show it by your frown, and we shall return whence we came. If you choose rather 
to come within the fold of our brotherhood, then cheer us with the smiles of your wom- 
en, and lend willing hands to secure yourselves in your heritage of liberty. 

"Women of Kentucky! your persecutions and heroic bearing have reached our ears. 
Let j'our enthusiasm have free rein. Buckle on the armor of your kindred, your hus- 
bands, sons, and brothers, and scoff to scorn him who would prove recreant in his duty 
to j'ou, his country, and his God." 

Some of the people of the State were ready to welcome General 
Bragg. A few young men were eager to join the Confederate ranks. A 
great many of the women hailed the Southern army with joyful looks and 
sparkling eyes, but the great heart of the State was beating loyally and 
true for the Union, Far-seeing men knew that Bragg would soon be 
driven by the great army gathering at Louisville — thousands of soldiers 
from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and all the West — to join Biiell. 

Jefferson Davis and the Confederate authorities at Bichmond were in- 
dulging in the delusion that if a Confederate government could be set up 
at Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky, the people would recognize it, and 
yield allegiance to the Confederacy. 

They did not comjjrehend that the people of the State were farther 
than ever from yielding allegiance to the Confederate Government. Not 
only did Davis believe that he could secure Kentucky, but that Illinois, 
Indiana, Missouri, and Iowa could be induced to abandon the contest 
against the South by offering to them the free navigation of the Missis- 
sippi to the Gulf of Mexico. On the day that Bragg issued his proc- 
lamation a committee of the Confederate Congress reported in favor of 
making such an offer. Instead of that, the soldiers of the North -west 
were pouring in, and on October 1st Buell had an army of nearly one 
hundred thousand men. 

The women of Fi'ankfort and many of the men had given a welcome 
to the Confederate army. Mr. Richard Hawes was to be inaugurated 
governor at noon October 4, 1862. Major-general Kirby Smith was de- 



.S44 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

tailed by General Bragg to arrange the military escort. Thus read the 
order : 

"The governor will be escorted from his quarters by a squadron of cavalry, and ac- 
companied by the commander of the Confederate States forces, Major-general Buckner. 
Brigadier-general Preston, and their respective staffs. The commanding general will pre- 
sent the governor to the people, and transfer in behalf of the Confederate States the civil 
order of the State and public records and property. " 

Nearly all the Confederate generals are present at the inauguration — 
Bragg, Kirby Smith, Buckner, Stevenson, Cleburne, Heath, Churchill. 
Preston Smith, William Preston. They gather in the Capitol Hotel for 
a banquet. The landlord brings out his wines and liquors. The ladies 
keep open house, feasting the officers of the army. 

Mr. Richard Hawes is escorted to the Capitol, and takes the oath of 
allegiance to the Confederate States. The flag of the Confederacy waves 
above the Capitol. 

It is six o'clock in the evening, and General Bragg is taking tea with 
an accomplished lady, Mrs. Preston, M'hen a cavalryman dashes up to the 
door with the startling news that the Union troops are close at hand. 
Governor Hawes, six hours a governor, suddenly packs his carpet-bag. 
The Confederate generals leap into their saddles. The ladies who hung 
out Confederate flags in the morning hasten to take them in. There are 
only two Confederate infantry regiments in Frankfort, with soine cavalry. 
The officers do not stop to take ceremonious leave of the ladies who are 
entertaining them, and before they are out of the streets on the south 
side of the town the Union cavalry are dashing across the bridge and en- 
tering upon the other side. The new governor is riding southward — gov- 
ernor only in name. The ladies who have smiled so graciously upon the 
Confederates, entertaining them, and looking forward to a new order of 
things in Frankfort under the administration of a Confederate governor, 
in grief and anger contemplate the sudden change which has taken place, 
while those who have stood by the old flag — whose husbands and brothers 
are fighting for the Union — open wide their doors and spread bountiful 
repasts. 

The true 'history of the war conq:>rises something more than fighting 
— more than the thunder of cannon, the rattle of musketry, the advance 
and retreat, the victory and defeat. It includes the hardships, trials, and 
endurance, the sympathies, hopes, griefs, sorrows, passions, and actions of 
men and women who heard nothing of the uproar of battle, who saw little 
of the grandeur and nothing of the horror of a battle-field. 



INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 345 

In Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Virginia — in all the Border States, 
as they were called, the war was around the hearth-stones — in the homes 
of the people. People distrusted their old-time friends; near neighbors 
were often bitter enemies, a sad state of affairs, paralyzing society, engen- 
dering feuds and animosities so bitter that many years must yet pass 
before they will wholly disappear. 

We have seen General Bragg, by his movement northward from Chat- 
tanooga, compelling General Buell to hasten from northern Alabama to 
Louisville, and now we will go down to the vicinity of Corinth and look 
at a second part of Bragg's programme. 

Corinth was an important military point, because there the railroad 
running from Columbus, Kentucky, to Mobile crossed the Memphis and 
Charleston Road. When General Albert Sidney Johnston was forced 
back from Bowling Green by the taking of Fort Donelson, he selected it 
as the next position to be held, and it was from thence that he marched 
to attack General Grant at Pittsburg Landing, to fight a great battle, 
in which he was defeated, and in which he lost his life. We have 
already seen how General Ilalleck, in May, 1862, with Grant's and Buell's 
armies combined, advanced upon Corinth, building long lines of intrench- 
ments ; that when he was ready to open fire with his heavy siege-guns 
he found the Confederates had slipped away under Beauregard to Tupelo, 
in Mississippi. 

We have also seen Buell holding the country east of Corinth, and 
Bragg conceiving the plan of putting his troops on the cars, sending them 
to Mobile, and thence north to Chattanooga, to gain Buell's flank and 
rear, and then marching into Kentucky, compelling that general to march 
back to Louisville. 

General Grant was commander of the Department of West Tennessee. 
lie had two small armies: the army of the Mississippi, under General 
Rosecrans — the troops which Pope commanded before he was ordered to 
Virginia (Hamilton's, Stanley's, Davies's, and McKean's divisions) — twenty- 
two thousand men, and the Army of the Tennessee (Sherman's, McPher- 
son's, Ord's, and Hurlburt's divisions), eighteen thousand men. 

The Confederate Army of the South-west was commanded by Major- 
general Earl Van Dorn, composed of the divisions of Breckinridge, Maury, 
and Little — thirty-eight thousand men. Van Dorn was left to hold Grant 
in check, while Bragg, by his march into Kentucky, transferred the theatre 
of war to the Ohio River. 

Van Dorn sent General Armstrong with his twenty-five hundred cav- 
alry north from Grand Junction to attack the Union troops at Bolivar. 



346 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

The Confederate cavalry rode swiftly througli the woods, expecting to 
surprise Grant's cavalry, but the movement was discovered. 

Colonel Crocker, with nine hundred men, advanced from Bolivar to 
meet Armstrong. He formed his brigade of cavalry and mounted infan- 
try in the woods. Skirmishing began, and continued till night. The cav- 
alrymen dashed at each other. A few Confederate and a few Union men 
went down in the melee. Crocker slowly drew off his men and fell back, 
crossing the Hatchie River to Bolivar. Armstrong did not dare to attack, 
but turned off, crossed the river, and made a dash at the railroad at Medon 
Station. The Seventh Missouri and Forty-lifth Illinois were there. 

" Pile up the cotton-bales and make a fort," shouted the officers when 
the alarm was given. The soldiers rushed to the station and piled the 
bales into a breastwork, with openings through which they could fire. 

The Confederate cavalry dismounted and advanced, but were glad to 
leap into their saddles again and retreat towards the Hatchie River. 
Colonel Dennis, with seven hundred infantry and two cannon, followed, 
and came upon them. Armstrong turned about, saw how small a force 
it was, and deployed his men, sending them out on each flank. The Con- 
federates charged and captured the two cannon, but the Union infantry 
rallied and poured in so hot a fire that the Confederates retreated, leaving 
the guns, which they could not take away, and losing one hundred and 
seventy-four men. Van Dorn gained nothing by the movement. 

The Confederate commander thought that this movement to Bolivar 
would make Grant think that the whole Confederate army was intend- 
ing to attack his right flank, and that he would hurry up the troops from 
Corinth ; but that commander saw that it was only a feint to cover some 
larger movement. He discovered that the troops under Yan Dorn and 
Price were leaving Grand Junction. 

At luka, twenty-six miles east of Corinth, are mineral springs. Be- 
fore the war the planters of northern Alabama and Mississippi used to 
gather there in summer to drink the refreshing waters, lounge on the 
broad piazza of the hotel, and talk about raising cotton and the secession 
of the Southern States. 

Colonel Murphy, commanding a brigade of Stanley's division, was 
there, but abandoned the town, retreating to Corinth, and making no 
effort to save or destroy the beef, flour, pork, and other supplies intrusted 
to his care, which fell into the hands of General Price, and which he was 
very glad to get. 

General Price had fourteen thousand men at luka. Grant planned a 
movement which he hoped would result in the defeat of that force. He 



INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 



347 



sent General Rosecrans with Stanley's and Hamilton's divisions — nine 
thousand men — south to the little town of Eienzi, on the railroad ; from 
there the troops were to turn east, march along the country road to 
Jacinto, and come upon luka from the south. lie sent General Ord to 
attack from the north-west, but who was to wait until he heard Eose- 
crans's guns before attacking. 

General Rosecrans reached Jacinto on the 18th of September. The 
wearied troops kindled their bivouac fires, drank their coffee, and threw 
themselves on the ground, weary and worn, after a hard day's march. He 
had promised General Ord to be ready to fall upon Price early on the 
19th, but he was 
yet twenty miles 
from luka. Heavy 
rains had fallen, the 
roads were deep 
with mud, the 
streams were swol- 
len, and it was slow 
getting on. 

Before daybreak 
the troops took up 
once more their 
march. At one 
o'clock in the af- 
ternoon the cavalry 
in advance came 
upon the Confed- 
erate outposts at Barnett's Corner, They were on the road leading from 
Jacinto to luka, marching north-east. There was still another road far- 
ther east, leading south to Fulton. General Rosecrans intended to sweep 
his right wing round upon that highway and attack from the south and 
east, while Ord was to assail Price from the north-west. His column was 
strung out — a long line of infantry, artillery, ammunition, and baggage- 
wagons. The woods were thick on both sides of the highway. He was 
nearly up to a cross-road, along which he could march to gain the Fulton 
Road, and his skirmishers were ascending a hill, when there came a sharp 
rattle of musketry in their faces. 

General Price had discovered the movement, and laid a plan to fall 
upon Rosecrans with nearly all his force. With fourteen thousand men 
he would make quick work of tlie nine thousand strung out in a long col- 




MAP OF lUKA. 



348 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

umn. lie was acquainted with the ground ; Rosecrans was not. Price 
had forty-four cannon, and chose his position on a hill two miles south of 
luka, deploying General Little's division, consisting of Gates's, Colbert's, 
Green's, and Morton's brigades, in front, holding Maury in reserve to con- 
front General Ord. 

At Barnett's house a battalion of the Fifth Iowa deployed as skirmish- 
ers and drove the Confederates. At Miss Moore's house, five miles from 
luka, the fight was sharp. The skirmishers, from the brow of a hill, dis- 
covered the enemy in line along a ravine. General Hamilton, command- 
ing the division, was close behind the skirmishers, and saw that the time 
for quick action had come ; for suddenly a strong force of Confederates 
rushed uj^on the Twenty-sixth Missouri, driving it back upon the head 
of the column. Ilis troops were in the road. The woods on both sides 
were very thick. He knew nothing of the ground. Shells were bursting 
around him, and bullets cutting the twigs. The Eleventh Ohio Battery 
with great difficulty wheeled into position in the thick underbrush. The 
leading regiment, the Fifth Iowa, went out upon the right, and the Forty- 
sixth Missouri beyond it. The Forty-eighth Indiana went up the road 
upon the run, and swung out to the left of the battery. It was after four 
o'clock, and the sun well down towards the horizon, when, with these 
three regiments and one battery in line, began the battle, which burst out 
in an instant with great fury. Up the hill came other regiments — the 
Fourth Minnesota and Sixteenth Iowa — which formed on the right in the 
rear, and the Tenth Iowa and the Twelfth Wisconsin Battery on the left. 
The Eightieth Ohio formed in reserve in rear of the Forty-eighth Indiana. 

The ground was so rough and the woods so dense that Hamilton could 
only have a front line of three regiments, while General Price had de- 
ployed one entire division. On the right of the Confederates was the 
Texas Legion, which with a yell rushed forward, pouring volley after 
volley into the left flank of the Fifth Iowa. Many Union soldiers went 
down, but the regiment held its ground and gave deadly volleys in return. 

The Eleventh Ohio Battery was commanded by Lieutenant Sears, who 
worked his guns with great rapidity. The Confederates were within can- 
ister range, and he made great gaps in their lines. The Confederate can- 
non, on the other hand, were aimed too high, and the shot cut the twigs 
of the sassafras-trees over the heads of the Union troops. 

The Confederates determined to capture the Union battery, and came 
on with a rush upon the Forty-eighth Iowa, which gave way, and then 
came the shooting of the gunners and the horses. The frightened ani- 
mals dashed through the ranks of the Twenty-sixth Missouri, which rushed 



INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 349 

into the gap in the line, pouring a deadly fire into the faces of the exult- 
ant Confederates. " Lie down and load ; then rise and fire !" shouted 
Captain Brown to the men of Company C. The men obe3'ed, sheltering 
themselves while loading, and then rising for an instant and firing. 

" Fire low !" shouted a Confederate officer to iiis men, who saw the 
Twenty-sixth Missouri sheltering themselves. The Confederates fired low 
and then the Union men began to drop very fast. 

This the scene at sunset : the Confederates charging upon the battery, 
horses and men going down in a heap, dead and wounded piled one upon 
the other, the air thick witli bursting shells and leaden rain, the men firing 
in one anotlier's faces. 

The Confederates had caj^tured the battery, but could not hold it. 
They retreated, rallied, rushed once more upon the guns, took them a 
second time, but to hold them only a moment, for the Union troops came 
on with a cheer and regained them. For two hours the tide of battle 
sui'ged backward and forward over the same ground. General Little, on 
the Confederate side, fell mortally wounded. General Price narrowly 
escaped. He brought up brigade after brigade, but could drive the Union 
men only a few paces before his own lines were swept back in turn. 

Night came at last, putting an end to one of the fiercest contests of 
the war, brief but bloody, fought with unsurpassed bravery and obstinacy 
on the Union side — seven regiments and two batteries (two thousand eight 
hundred men in all) defeating nearly the whole Confederate force. Dark- 
ness settled down upon the field, thickly strewn with killed and wounded ; 
the Union soldiers lay down where they stood, sleeping on their arms all 
night long, Nvith the rain pouring upon them. 

General Price was uneasy. He had attacked and been defeated. His 
ablest officer. General Little, had been killed. There was a mournful scene 
in luka at his midnight burial. The Confederate officers stood around ; 
torches threw their ffickering light upon them as they heaped the earth 
above the brave commander. There was no drum-beat, no volley of mus- 
ketry, a funeral very much like that of Sir John Moore on the battle-field 
of Corunna, in Spain — 

"Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note." 

General Price was thinking wdiat he should do, for the Union troops 
under Posecrans were sleeping on their arms, ready to renew the battle in 
the morning. North-west of the town were the troops under General Ord, 
ready to advance. There was but one road open to him, that leading 
south to Fulton, and Posecrans was ready to seize it in the morning. 



350 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

A man to be a successful general must be able to make a retreat, if 
need be, as well as to win a battle. General AVasliington won the admira- 
tion of the British generals when he slipped away in the night from a su- 
perior force at Trenton, made an all-night march, fell upon the British at 
Princeton, and won a victory. General Price showed his good-sense and 
his ability to escape capture by giving instant orders for a retreat. 

Morning dawned. The Union troops were ready for battle, but no 
Confederates confronted them. They were gone, escaping by the Fulton 
Road. Rosecrans entered luka, to find the houses full of Confederate 
wounded. 

Hamilton's division had done nearly all the fighting. It contained less 
than three thousand when the battle begun ; but one hundred and thirty- 
seven had been killed, five hundred and twenty-seven wounded, and twen- 
ty-six had been captured. 

The wind had blown from the north, and no sound of the conflict had 
reached the ears of General Ord, who had been waiting to hear the cannon- 
ade. If he had heard it, it is quite probable that Price's army would have 
been ground to powder, as corn is crushed between the revolving mill- 
stones. 

When the Confederate soldiers saw that they were to evacuate the 
town they broke open the houses, helping themselves to whatever pleased 
them most. The people had welcomed them a few days before with 
open arms, but now they saw their property ruthlessly taken by the men 
from Missouri and Arkansas. They had espoused secession as a sovereign 
right, and had voted to secede, little thinking how bitter would be the 
turn of events. Price made a rapid march, sending his wagons in ad- 
vance, the drivers urging on the mules, so that by daylight they were 
beyond the reach of Rosecrans's cavalry. 

General Grant had failed in his plan to crush Price simply because he 
had relied upon General Ord's liearing the cannon of Rosecrans. So we 
see how small a matter in war will sometimes defeat the best-laid plans. 

General Van Dorn determined to attack Corinth, the key to all the 
surrounding countr3\ If it could be captured, the Union troops would 
be compelled to abandon AVest Tennessee. He had thirty-eight thousand 
troops, while Rosecrans, in command at Corinth, had only about twenty 
thousand. 

There was a Confederate spy in the town. Miss Burton, who sent a 
letter to Van Dorn which fell into the hands of Rosecrans's detectives, 
who carefully unsealed it, made a copy, then resealed it and allowed it to 
go to Van Dorn. Miss Burton in her letter told Van Doi'n how many 



INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 351 

Union regiments Rosecrans had, the number of cannon, and informed him 
that the town could be best attacked from the north-west, between the 
two raih'oads. Rosecrans did not have Miss Burton arrested ; he was too 
shrewd for that. But the detectives had their eyes on her so sharply that 
she could not send a second letter to let Yan Dorn know that the negroes 
and soldiers were building redoubts and breastworks. 

North and east of the town there are swamps, with knolls and thick 
woods — not a good place to deploy troops in line of battle. On the north- 
west, however, the ground is high and rolling, with no natural obstruc- 
tions. Over this plateau Van Dorn intended to make his attack. The 
Memphis and Charleston Railroad comes into the town from the north- 
west, the Mobile and Ohio from the north. 

Walking out over the Memphis Railroad, we see Fort AVilliams south 
of the road on a knoll, and the three twenty-pounder Parrott guns inside 
of it to sweep all the plateau. North of the railroad, on another knoll, 
is Fort Robinett, close by the county road leading to Bolivar. AValking 
north-east, and crossing the county road leading to Chewalla and the Mo- 
bile and Ohio Railroad, we come to the county road leading to Purdy, and 
beyond it we see Fort Powell, and farther on Fort Richardson. These are 
all tlie points we need keep in mind. 

General Rosecrans had his cavalry out on all the roads — north, east, 
south, and west. The scouts brought word on the 2d of October that Yan 
Dorn was making a rapid march. Rosecrans stationed Hamilton's divis- 
ion on the Purdy Road, its right extending to a swamp, its left reaching 
to Fort Powell. Davies's division was next in line, with General Stan- 
ley's division behind it in reserve, while General McKean's division held 
the left, south of the Memphis Railroad. 

General Powell led the advance of the Confederates in the march to 
Corinth along a road south of the Memphis Railroad, and came into posi- 
tion, with the brigades of Rust, Yillepique, and Bowen in front, his left 
touching the Memphis Railroad, and Jackson's cavalry reaching south be- 
yond the seminary, south-west of the town. General Price had two divis- 
ions : Maury's and Hebert's. Hebert had succeeded General Little, killed 
at luka. Maury's line began at the Memphis Railroad, in front of Fort 
Robinett. Moore's and Phifer's brigades made up the front line, with 
Cabell's in reserve. Hebert's division extended north-east, with Green's, 
Gates's, and McLean's brigades in front, and Colbert's in reserve. 

General Rosecrans thought it best to begin the battle some distance 
from the town, beyond the line of the forts. By so doing he would de- 
velop the plans of the Confederates. Davies's division, in the centre was 



352 DRUxM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

between the railroads, while Mc Arthur's brigade went out on the south- 
west side of the Memphis Road. In front of Davies was an old breast- 
work built by Beauregard, held by Oliver's brigade. 

It was half-past ten in the morning when Lovell's division (Confeder- 
ate) advanced and began the battle by falling upon Oliver. General 
McKean, on the left, saw that Oliver was going to be flanked, and sent 
McArthur's brigade to his assistance. The Confederates greatly outnum- 
bered the Union troops. After firing a while, the Confederates rushed, 
charged the breastwork, capturing two cannon, and driving Oliver back 
towards Fort Robinett, which uncovered Davies's flank. Moore's Confed- 
erate brigade sprang into the gap between Davies and McArtlmr, which 
compelled Davies's whole division to fall back. 

The Tenth Ohio Battery, out on the Chewalla Road, had hurled shells 
upon the Confederates, but the time had come when it must go to the 
rear, for there were no regiments at hand to support it. The gunners 
limbered up the j^ieces and seized the sponges and rammers. 

" Get bucket No. 2," shouts a corporal. The Confederates are not one 
hundred feet distant ; but G. S. Wright, a boy of eighteen, runs and picks 
it up, with the bullets whistling about him, and brings it safely away. 

Going up the Purdy Road, we see Hamilton's troops on the knolls 
north of the town, and the Confederate troops under Ilebert in the woods 
M'est of him. Yan Dorn has ordered Ilebert to keep out of sight until 
the right moment comes, thinking that Hamilton will rush in to help Da- 
vies ; but Hamilton makes no such movement. His troops in the morn- 
ing faced north-east, but he sees that Van Dorn is not going to attack from 
that quarter ; and while the battle is raging west of him he is changing 
his line, so that at noon it faces north-west. His skirmishers have discov- 
ered the seven thousand Confederate troops under Hebert in the woods. 

There has been a lull in the battle. The Confederates, elated by the 
success of the morning, are getting ready for a grand attack. Van Dorn 
plans to hurl his troops upon Davies's division and drive them on, brigade 
after brigade, over the ground between the two railroads. 

In battle a general must be quick to see what the enemy intends to 
do, and be ready to receive the blow and strike one in return. Rosecrans 
comprehends Van Dorn's plan, and orders McKean to fall back to another 
ridge to join his right to Davies. Stanley, who has been near the town, is 
advanced, to be close to Davies, while Hamilton is to be ready to swing to 
the west and strike the Confederates in flank. 

It was nearly three o'clock before Van Dorn was ready. First the 
cannon opened ; then the brigades, one after another, fell upon Davies. 



INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 



353 



General Hackleman, commanding a Union brigade, was mortally wound- 
ed. General Oglesby, commanding anotlier brigade, was also wounded. 
The troops began to waver, when up came Stanley's batteries, the horses 
upon the run. The gunners leaped from the limbers, wheeled the can- 
non into position, and poured canister into the Confederate ranks. Gen- 
eral Mower's brigade came on the double-quick, and went into the thick 
of the light. 

Through the afternoon the battle rages. Sullivan's brigade, of Ham- 
ilton's division, comes to take part. At six o'clock the contest ceases. 
Van Dorn has driven, as it w^ere, a wedge almost through the Union lines. 
To-morrow he will 



finish the work. 
He sends this ex- 
ultant telegram to 
Richmond: "Our 
troops have driven 
the enemy from 
their positions. We 
are w^ithin three- 
fourths of a mile 
of Corinth. The 
enemy are huddled 
together about the 
town — some on the 
extreme left trying 
to hold their posi- 
tion. So far all is 
glorious." 

About the time 
the war began, an 

Indian named Chief Sky, in Wisconsin, captured a young eagle on the 
banks of the Flambeau River, a branch of the Chippewa. The company 
from Eau Claire brought the bird with them when they went into camp 
at Madison, and Captain Perkins named him " Old Abe," for Abraham 
Lincoln. The soldiers becaine fond of him, and he of the soldiers. He 
had a perch on the color-staff, and always sat there in battle, flapping his 
wings, as if in ecstasy, when the battle was wildest. The regiment is in 
Mower's brigade, and Old Abe on his perch, looking out over the scene. 
Cannon are thundering around him ; there are long rolls of musketry; the 
air is thick with bullets. From the flank comes a fearful volley, enfilading 
23 




MAP OP CORINTH. 



354 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

the line, cutting clown scores of men, and severing the cord which holds 
Old Abe to the staff. He flaps his wings, rises above the two armies, cir- 
cles out over the Confederates, then back again to his friends, and lights 
once more on his perch. The regiment is in retreat, and Old Abe goes 
with it, to be in a score of battles, and to come out of them all unliarmed. 

Night settles over the scene, and General Rosecrans prepares for the 
morrow. Several hundred negroes are set to work with axes, picks, and 
shovels, building breastworks north of Fort Powell. Rosecrans reforms 
his line, resting the left on Fort Robinett, the centre on the ridge be- 
tween the two railroads, and the right on the high ground on the Purdy 
Road. McKean's division still holds the left ; Stanley stands next in line ; 
then Davies, then Hamilton on the right. Rosecrans calls all these officers 
to his headquarters — a wdiite cottage with a portico, the home of Hampton . 
Mark — explains his plans, and the officers post their troops accordingly. 

Fort Robinett and Fort AVilliams were what military men call the 
keys to the position, so situated that their cannon could sweep all the 
field. If Van Dorn could get possession of the forts he could turn the 
guns npon other parts of the Union line. Being so important a position, 
we may expect Yan Dorn to try his best to capture them. 

The first brigade of the Second Division of Rosecrans's army (General 
Stanley) is called the Ohio Brigade, Colonel Fuller commander, composed 
of the Twenty -seventh. Thirty -ninth, Forty -third, and Sixty-third Ohio 
regiments. About ten o'clock at night the troops file into position. Tiie 
pickets hear noises in front of them, and discover that the Confederates 
are planting a battery. Captain Brown, of the Sixty-third, goes out with 
two companies. Creeping along the Chewalla Road, he^ comes suddenly 
upon a Confederate ofiicer, Captain Tobin, commanding a Tennessee bat- 
tery, and takes him and his bugler prisoners. 

At four o'clock in the morning the Union soldiers were astir. Rose- 
crans ordered that no fires should be kindled, but the soldiers wanted a 
cup of hot coffee, and disregarded the command. The Confederate artil- 
lerymen, aiming at the light, opened fire and sent their shells into Corinth. 
Sutlers, teamsters, and negroes hastened to the rear, but the soldiers ate 
their breakfast, and were ready for work. Captain Williams waited till 
in the dawning light he could see just where the Confederate batteries 
were, and then opened with his thirty -pounder Parrott guns. His aim 
was sure, the shells destructive, and the Confederate gunners made haste 
to get away, taking all but one gun, which was captured by the soldiers 
of the Sixty-third Ohio. 

The skirmishers began as soon as it was daylight. The Confederate 



INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 355 

batteries joined in, and sent a shell crashing into tlie Tishomingo Hotel, 
filled with Union wounded, killing a soldier. 

It was half-past nine when Hebert's Confederate division came out 
from the woods and advanced against Davies. The long lines of men 
in gray came into the clearing. Gates's brigade led the movement upon 
Fort Richardson. A storm beat in their faces; men dropped, but the 
column pressed on up the gentle ascent, rushing at last up to the line of 
breastworks, and leaped over them. Captain E-ichardson, for whom the 
fort was named, goes down, and his gunners are shot. The infantry sup- 
porting the battery are driven. The troops retreat towards the town, 
foUow^ed by the Confederates. McLean's Confederate brigade captures 
Fort Powell. Gates's men rush on into the town, charging up almost to 
Itosecrans's headquarters ; but they are confronted by the Tenth Ohio and 
Fifth Minnesota and Immell's battery. Mark Hampton's house is riddled 
with bullets. Seven Confederates go down in front of it ; but the wave 
which has rolled so far and so triumphantlj^ has spent its force. 

Going up the Purdy Road, we come to Hamilton's division. His bat- 
teries are sending shells westward, and we see Sullivan's brigade falling 
upon the Confederates, the Fifty-sixth Illinois sweeping them out of Fort 
Powell and recapturing it. 

The Confederates under General Maury advanced against Forts Robi- 
nett and Williams. The thirty-pounder Parrotts opened upon them, but 
still the Texans and Mississippians pressed on. 

" Forward ! Charge !" 

It was Colonel Rogers, of Texas, commanding a brigade, who gave the 
order. He had a battle-flag in his hand and led his men. Canister mowed 
them down, but they reached the ditch in front of the fort, and halted to 
take breath. Just so, at the battle of Buena Yista, the Mexicans halted 
when they should have advanced, and were mercilessly cut down. There 
are times in battle when moments are priceless. Such a crisis had arrived 
at Corinth. It was but a moment that they stood irresolute, but in that 
brief instant the Confederates lost a possible victory. Down into the 
ditch leaped the brave Rogers, his men following ; climbing the parapet, 
but all to tumble headloirg, pierced by bullets. 

Little did Colonel Rogers suspect what a tempest would burst upon 
him; that the Ohio Brigade was close at hand biding its time, and that 
the Eleventh Missouri also was there. 

For a few moments only can such a contest last — men firing into one 
another's faces, scores going down at every volley ; men stabbing at one 
another with their bayonets and striking with the butts of their guns. 



356 DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

The contest "was soon over, the Confederates fleeing over ground 
thickly strewn with killed and wounded. A few moments ago the Sixty- 
third Ohio numbered two hundred and fifty, now only one hundred and 
twenty-five. In front of Fort Robinett fifty-six Confederates are lying, 
piled one upon another. 

The defeat was so decisive that Yan Dorn ordered the instant retreat 
of his army. Before noon the shattered columns were gone, with Ttose- 
crans in pursuit. General Ord was at Bolivar. He had started for Cor- 
inth while the battle was raging, intending to attack Yan Dorn in the 
rear. He had four thousand men — Hurlbut's division. Yan Dorn hast- 
ened west to get beyond the Hatchie River. Ord met him at the river. 
Confederate cavahy held the bridge, but Ord took possession of a hill and 
commanded the approach to the bridge with his cannon. 

The Confederate troops charged upon the hill, but were driven by Ord, 
who was wounded in the melee. General Hurlbut then assum<?d com- 
mand of the Union troops, and the battle went on, Hurlbut trying to get 
possession of the bridge. 

Yan Dorn saw that a net was closing around him. The cavalry scouts 
brought word that another body of Union troops undel' General McPher- 
son was coming from the west. 'No time was to be lost. He turned his 
train into a narrow road leading south along the east bank of the river, 
towards Crum's Mill, and made a show of fighting till they were well 
under way, then withdrew his troops, losing in the battle of Hatchie eight 
cannon and three hundred men. He reached Ripley, but with a sadly 
demoralized army. Of his soldiers, more than fourteen hundi'ed had been 
killed, and he had lost altogether more than eight thousand men. He had 
failed in what he set out to accomplish — to capture Corinth and compel 
the Union troops to abandon West Tennessee. It was the last effort of 
the Confederate army to regain that section of country. 

October has come. Buell is at Louisville. He has reorganized liis 
army, and begins a movement against Bragg, who is at Bardstown. Kirby 
Smith, with the Confederate troops which came from Knoxville, is at 
Frankfort. Buell advances, and Bragg sullenly falls back to Chaplin 
Hills, near Perryville. It is a beautiful country, a I'egion of smooth fields, 
corn-lands, farm-houses, woods, and pastures on the Chaplin River, a small 
stream winding in graceful curves. Bragg has sixty thousand men. He 
intended to choose his ground and fight a defensive battle, but half of his 
troops are under Smith, thirty miles away. He suddenly changes his plan. 
He sees McCook's and Gilbert's divisions of Buell's army approaching 



INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 



359 



Perrjville, and resolves to attack McCook and annihilate him before the 
other division can come to his aid. 

On the Tth of October Daniel McCook's brigade of Sheridan's di- 
vision, Gilbert's corps, is approaching Perry ville on the road leading to 
Springfield. The roads are deep vi^ith dust, the ground parched, the 
springs dry, the men and horses suffering for want of water. The videttes 
reach a little stream. Doctor's Creek, and stop to fill their canteens, when 
there comes a rattling fire upon them from Confederate skirmishers sent 
out by Bragg. Sheridan brings Hiscock's and Barnet's batteries to the 
front, and after a brief cannonade the Confederates retire. 




i^HEBIDAN'S O^'^ 



MAP OF PERRVVILLE. 



General Buell and staff ride to the top of the ridge overlooking the 
country towards Perryville, and dismount in fronl of Carlin's brigade, 
looking over the ground with their glasses. 'No Confederate troops are in 
sight, but they are aware that a battle is imminent. " Well, Carlin, to-mor- 
row you will have all the fighting you want !" is the remark of Colonel 
Fry. "Have- you confidence in your troops?" Buell asks. "I will trust 
them anywhere," is the reply. 

The rising sun of October 8th shines through the morning haze. The 
soldiers know that a battle is at hand, but it is nearly ten o'clock before 
the cannon open their lips. 



360 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

This the formation of tlie Union line : Going west one mile to the 
road leading to Mackville, we come to the house of Mr. Russell, where we 
see Rousseau's division of McCook's corps coming down the road. Sud- 
denly, from the woods along the creek, the Confederate cannon open fire. 
Rousseau brings Loomis's and Simonson's batteries into position, and the 
conflict begins. The Thirty-third Ohio deploys as skirmishers, followed 
by McCook's brigades, which come into line in the fields north-west of 
Russell's house. 

Going: out through the field where the corn is standing in shocks, we 
come to Terrell's brigade of Jackson's division — new troops which have 
never been in battle, with Starkweather's brigade in the rear. To the right 
of Starkweather is Harris's, and then Lytle's. Webster's brigade is in the 
rear, near Russell's house. Going east, w^e find Schoepf's division of Gil- 
bert's corps, with Sheridan beyond. 

Walking now over to the Confederate lines, we discover Polk's corps 
on the right and Hardee's on the left. Polk has charge of the attack. 
He has his own corps, with Cheatham's division, on the right, which is to 
strike Terrell. Buckner's division is in the centre, wdiich is to advance 
through the fields and strike McCook's line, while Anderson's division is 
to crush Lytle's troops. 

Cheatham advances so rapidly that almost before Terrell knows it the 
storm bursts upon his untried troops, who see three times their own num- 
ber bearing down nj^on them. The line begins to waver. Jackson and 
Terrell try to rally the faint-hearted, but a moment later Jackson is killed 
and Terrell mortally wounded. The Union troops retreat in confusion, 
while the Confederates rush upon Parson's battery and seize the guns. 
At a blow McCook's right has been crushed. 

McCook makes a mistake at the outset in not sending at once to Buell 
the information that he is attacked and needs reinforcements. He sends 
instead to Gilbert, who refers him to Buell, who is a strict construction- 
ist. Everything must go by rule. Gilbert w^aits for orders, but none 
come. Carlin is eager to advance. General Mitchell, commanding a di- 
vision, is anxious to sweep down upon Polk's flank, and asks permission 
of Gilbert to do so, but they wait for an order from Buell. 

Having scattered Terrell's brigade, Cheatham advances upon Stark- 
weather. The strife is getting hot all along the line, for Buckner is in 
front of Harris, while Anderson is opening upon Lytle. McCook bi'ings 
forward Webster's brigade, but its commander is killed, and the Union 
troops are driven. The Confederates advance with jubilant yells. Loo- 
mis's Union battery is by Russell's house. The gunners have fired away 



INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 363 

all their long-range ammunition, and stand beside their pieces wiping the 
sweat from their brows, biding their time. On rush the Confederates to 
seize the cannon, but a storm of canister bursts upon them. Pinney's 
battery, Fiftli Wisconsin, comes upon the gallop, wheels into position, and 
pours in its fire. The Confederates come to a halt, for at this moment 
Gooding's brigade of Gilbert's corps comes across the field. Gilbert has 
resolved to wait no longer for orders from Buell. The struggle is terrific. 
In a few moments four hundred and ninety of Gooding's men are killed 
or wounded. Steedman's brigade attacks with such vigor that the Con- 
federates, who a few moments ago w'ere sweeping all before them, are 
driven in confusion back to Russell's house. 

Sheridan the wdiile, without any orders from Buell, advances Carlin, 
who captures one hundred and thirty-three men and several wagons and 
caissons. General Thomas is out on the right. He hears the uproar, waits 
for orders from Buell, but none reach him, and he takes 710 part in the 
struggle. He is in a position to sweep round and fall with resistless force 
upon the Confederates. Night comes ; the battle is over, fought almost 
wdiolly by McCook, who has lost nearly four thousand men. No one will 
ever know Bragg's loss ; but as lie brought on the fight, and was the at- 
tacking party, it probably exceeded the Union casualties. Bragg intended 
to crush McCook, and then the other corps in succession ; but had been 
defeated instead. Through the night his trains were rumbling along the 
roads ; when morning came, his whole army was moving south. On the 
11th Buell came upon Bragg's rear at Harrodsburg, and pressed him so 
hard that the Confederate commander abandoned his sick and wounded. 
Bragg had reaped a rich harvest of supj)lies in Kentucky, and was sending 
his trains into Tennessee. Buell, instead of following, gave up the pursuit 
and turned west towards Nashville, fearing that Bragg would swing round 
in that direction. But the Confederate general was busy sending his trains 
south. "The wagon-train," said the Richmond Examiner^ "was 40 miles 
long, and brought 1,000,000 yards of jeans, a large lot of clothing, boots 
and shoes, 200 w\agon-loads of bacon, 6000 barrels of pork, 1.500 horses 
and mules, and 8000 cattle and swine." Bragg had not captured Louis- 
ville or Cincinnati, but he had pushed Buell from northern Alabama back 
to the Ohio River, had lived on the fat of the land for a month, and se- 
cured a vast amount of food. He had discovered, too, that Kentucky had 
cast in her lot irrevocably for the old flag. He expected to obtain many 
recruits for the Confederates, but few had joined him. Buell had shown 
so little energy in the campaign that he was relieved of his command, and 
Rosecrans, with the victory at Corinth in his favor, succeeded him. 



364 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



CHAPTER XY. 

CRUMBLING OF THE CONFEDERATE CORXER-STOXE. 

TT7"E are ever to keep in mind the fact that beliind all the noise and 
* ^ carnage of battle there were great ideas : the maintenance of the 
authority of government, the preservation of the Union, and that it was 
a struggle between two systems of labor, between two civilizations — the 
supremacy of ideas and institutions. 

A great change was taking place in the opinions of the people of the 
United States in regard to slavery. In the first chapter we have seen how 
slavery was planted in this country, how it became a political power, and 
how it was at the bottom of all the troubles besetting the nation. When 
the Confederate cannon opened fire upon Fort Sumter it was from earth- 
works which had been constructed by slaves. The fortifications around 
Richmond from which McClellan had been driven, those at Donelson and 
at Columbus — all had been built b}^ slave labor. The people of the jS^orth 
were beginning to see that while the white people were in the field fight- 
ing to destroy the Union, the slaves were tilling the soil and raising corn 
and cotton ; that slavery was giving great strength to the Confederate arms. 

On the 22d of May, 1861, General Butler, at Fortress Monroe, declared 
that slaves which had been employed in building breastworks for the Con- 
federates were contraband of war. In August, 1861, General Fremont, 
commanding in Missouri, issued a 23i'oclamation making free the slaves of 
all citizens in the State who were enemies of the Union. 

He had no authority to issue such a proclamation, and President Lin- 
coln declared it of no effect. General Ilalleck, who succeeded him in 
command, forbade negroes to come into his camp, and ordered the soldiers 
to drive them away ; but the troops saw that slavery was behind the Con- 
federacy, and disregarded the order. They divided their rations with the 
negroes. They were rapidly becoming abolitionists. They could see with 
clearer vision than the politicians that slavery gave strength to the Con- 
federacy. They talked it over by their bivouac fires. Why should they 
fight to maintain an institution which was at war with free labor? Why 



CRUMBLING OF THE CONFEDERATi: CORNER-STONE. 367 

should tliey jjeril their lives for that which was at the bottom of all these 
troubles? 

John Cochrane, of Kew York, was a member of Congress before the 
war. He had always been conservative ; but when South Carolina hred 
upon Fort Sumter he forgot his conservatism in his zeal for the preserva- 
tion of the Union. He commanded a regiment called "United States 
Chasseurs," from New York. He held a review, and the Secretary of 
War, Simon Cameron, was present. After the review Colonel Cochrane 
made a speech to his soldiers. He said that to put an end to the war the 
Government had a right to confiscate property, seize cotton, and as slaves 
were an element of power, it was the duty of the Government to seize 
them ; and not only that, but to put arms in their hands to aid in suppress- 
ing the rebellion and to secure their freedom ! Any general who should 
fail or refuse to do this was as nnlit for service as he who should decline to 
explode a mine which had been prepared for the destruction of the enemy ! 

Up to this moment his men had stood mute and motionless, with arms 
at rest, but in an instant, as if all had been moved by an electric impulse, 
they burst into enthusiastic applause. This, the colonel said, was not abo- 
litionism ; it was only using the means at hand for suppressing the rebel- 
lion and saving the country. 

At the close of the speech Mr. Cameron was called upon. He said that 
he fully indorsed every word Colonel Cochrane had said, and lest he 
should be misunderstood he would repeat that the sentiments of Colonel 
Cochrane upon this subject were his own, and he was glad to hear them. 

This declaration, so straightforward and explicit, was received with 
great demonstrations of delight by the troops, and when Mr. Cameron de- 
scended from the platform they gave him three hearty cheers. 

On December 2, ISGl, I learned that there was a large number of ne- 
groes in Washington jail who had been arrested by the police, not for the 
commission of crime, but because they were slaves, and liad run away from 
their masters. I visited the jail to see about it. Ascending the stone stairs 
and passing along a dark corridor to a great iron door which the jailer un- 
locked, we entered a room where there were sixty negroes — old men bend- 
ing with age and young boys. There was no bed, no mattress or straw on 
the stone floor, not even a blanket to protect them from the cold. They 
were in rags, vermin were creeping over them, and the room was reeking 
with filth. They had been arrested under the slave laws of Maryland. 

The statutes afl^ecting the men in prison were passed when Maryland 
M'as a colony. If a slave went abroad at night without leave he could 
be punished by whipping, cropjjing, and branding with the letter K. If a 



368 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

slave were convicted of treason, arson, or murder, he was to have his right 
hand cut off, and then he was to be hanged, his head severed from his 
body, tlie body divided into four quarters, and the head and quarters set 
up in the most public place in the county. It was lawful for any one to 
shoot and kill a runaway slave. 

Under an Act passed 1820 a slave breaking a street lamp, or tying a 
horse to a tree in the street, flying a kite, attending a religious meeting, 
unless led by a white man, was to be whipped, A free negro must prove 
his freedom and enter into bonds with five good bondsmen to obey the 
laws. If he could not obtain them he must pay a flue of one thousand 
dollars or be sent to the workhouse. A free colored person found in 
the streets after ten o'clock at night was to be arrested and sent to jail. 
The police suspecting a negro of being a runaway slave were to put 
him in jail, and the negro must prove his innocence or be sold to pay the 
fees. 

The poor creatures in the jail looked up wonderingly when I entered. 
Had I come to sell them into slavery? I asked them questions, and here 
are the notes written at the time : 

"James Munroe, sixteen years old; belongs to Captain Demmington, who was captain 
of the police at the Capitol during Buchanan's administration, but who is now captain of 
a Confederate battery. When he went to Virginia he left James behind, who has been 
arrested because he has no master. 

"Charles Jackson, from Fairfax County, Virginia; owned by "SVilliam Dulin; lived 
near Fairfax Court-house; fifty years old. When the Union army entered Virginia his 
master sold his wife and children. Charles fled to the Union lines, was arrested by the 
police, and has been in jail three months. 

" 'You see, sir,' he said, ' when master sold my wife and children it broke me all up. 
I am sick; I can't eat. I sha'n't live long, but I don't want to die here. Oh, sir, can you 
do anything to get me out?' There were tears upon his cheeks as he knelt in supplica- 
tion at my feet. 

"George Washington (the slave-masters frequently named their slaves for the great 
men of the country); belonged to Benjamin Walker, near Oak Grove, Orange County, Vir- 
ginia. He ran away and reached Washington. He thought the Union soldiers would be 
his friends. 'Liberty is sweet to me,' he said. 

"Joe Curtis. He is a free negro; always has been free. He lived in Alexandria, was 
arrested by the police on the supposition that he was a slave. There is no one to pay his 
jail fees. Under the law he must be sold." 

It was profitable business for the police to arrest negroes and put 
them in jail. They had a fee for every arrest, which was paid by the 
Government of the United States. Under the old law, if no one claimed 
them, free negroes were sold into slavery to pay the fees. The jailer and 
sheriff made a great deal of money. 



CRUMBLING OF THE CONFEDERATE CORNER-STONE. 369 

"Robert Paine; owned by George Silkman, near Occoquon Mills, Virginia. His mas- 
ter is in the Confederate army. Robert took a boat, made his way up the Potomac to 
Washington to find freedom. He has been at work on the fortifications around Washing- 
ton for forty days. Government owes him for his labor. He was arrested one night by the 
Georgetown police, and had been in jail ten weeks." 

When the poor creatures saw me making notes of their answers thej 
did not at first know wliat to malvc of it. Were they to be sold ? Was I 
about to do something to lielp them? Their eyes Ivindled, their eomite- 
nances became eloquent with hope. They crowded arouud me, begging 
me to aid them. My blood was boiling, and I determined that they 
should be free, and that the law under which they had been imprisoned 
should be wiped from the statutes. 

"Please put down my name, sir," each said, crowding around me. 
Some of them had caught cold from sleeping on the stone floor, and were 
fast going in consuuiption. 

" God bless you, massa !" was the chorus that fell upon my ears as I 
walked away. Fifteen minutes later I was in the Capitol reading my 
notes to Henry AVilson, Senator from Massachusetts. Together we re- 
turned to the jail. 

"My God! Is it possible !" he said, as he gazed upon the poor creat- 
ures. " We will have this thing ripped up as sure as there is a God in 
heaven." 

I called upon Charles Sumner, Senator from Massachusetts, read to 
him what I had written, and he too visited the jail and came out of it 
with his blood at fever heat. 

The next day Senator Wilson iutroduced a resolution into the Senate 
" directing the discharge of all persons claimed as fugitives from service 
or labor confined in the jail in the District of Columbia." 

" I have visited the jail, and have found such a scene of degradation as 
I never before witnessed," said Mr. Wilson. 

" There are persons there," said Senator Sumner, " almost entirely na- 
ked, some of them without even a shirt. Some of them are free persons. 
Most of them have run away from disloyal masters. Some have been 
sent there by their masters for safe-keeping till the war is over." 

" I think," said Senator Ilale, of I^ew Hampshire, " that when the 
Northern States find out that they are supporting here in jail the slaves of 
rebels who are fighting against us— -tliat we are keeping, at the public ex- 
pense, their slaves for them till the war is over — it will have a tendency to 
enlighten the minds of some of them in answering the question, ' What 
has the ITorth to do with slavery V " 
24 



370 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Senator Grimes, of Iowa, visited the jail. " 1 think," he said, " that 
there never was a place of confinement that can be compared to the Wash- 
ington jail, except the French Bastile or the Dungeon of Yenice. I 
found one negro who had been there fourteen months — arrested on sus- 
picion of being a runaway." 

The resolution was passed, and the sixty negroes set at liberty. I had 
the satisfaction of seeing them breathe the fresh air of heaven, never more 
to be arrested as runaway slaves. It was the first step taken by Congress 
towards abolishing slavery. A few weeks later a bill was introduced for 
the emancipation of the slaves in the District of Columbia, which became 
a law in April, 1802. 

There was rejoicing throughout the Northern States. Those wlio saw 
that slavery was the cause of the war hailed it as forecasting its doom. 
John G. AVhittier, w'hose soul was set on fire for freedom thirty years be- 
fore, wrote of the event : 

"I knew that truth would crush this lie — 

Somehow, some time the end would be; 
Yet scarcely dared I hope to see 
The triumph with my mortal eye. 

" But now I see it. In the sun 

A free flag floats from yonder dome, 
And at the Nation's hearth and home 
The justice long delaj-ed is done." 

It was a very small matter, seemingly, the pronouncing of the slave 
who had nsed a shovel in building a Confederate fort "contraband of 
war " by General Butler, but its influence was far-reaching. How I hap- 
pened to go to Washington jail — what set my feet in that direction on the 
morning of December 2, 1801, I do not know. I had heard that negroes 
who had committed no crime were there ; that was all. I went, and great 
results came from it — the immediate liberation of those within its Avails, 
followed by the quick introduction of the bills into the Senate for the 
emancipation of the slaves in the Territories and the District of Columbia 
where Congress had jurisdiction. 

William Tillman was a negro cook on a schooner, the S. J. Waring, of 
]^ew York. The schooner sailed from that port in June, 1801, just after 
the battle of Bull Eun, for South America. The vessel was off the coast 
of South Carolina when the Confederate privateer Jef Davis ran along- 
side, capturing the schooner, taking off all the crew except a German, 



CRUMBLING OF THE CONFEDEKATE CORNER-STONE. 371 

a Yankee sailor, and tlie cook, and putting a Confederate captain, mate, 
and four sailors on board. The Confederate captain put the Yankee 
sailor in irons and told the German that he must mind the wheel. 

" You are to cook for us, and when we get to Charleston I will have 
you sold," he said to William. 

The schooner was headed towards Charleston, and the Jeff Davis 
steered away for other prizes. 

William Tillman was a free man, but if the scliooner were to reach 
Charleston he would be sold into slavery. Perhaps he never had heard 
the song written by Roucpiet de Lisle — the Marseillaise of France — 

"O Liberty! can man resign thee, 
Once having felt thy glorious flame?" 

lie felt it, however, and determined to strike a blow to secure his 
freedom. 

Night comes. The white sails are set and the vessel is gliding tow- 
ards Charleston. William is laying his jilans. At midnight he steals 
softly on deck. The German is at the wheel ; the mate has swallowed 
a glass of grog, and is sitting half asleep on the quarter-deck ; the cap- 
tain has gone to bed, and is sound asleep in the cabin. He goes back, 
opens the cabin door, swings a club with the strength of a giant, killing 
the captain at a single stroke. I^o cry is heard. He feels the pulse till 
it ceases to beat, creeps on deck, strikes the mate a blow, wounding but 
not killing him. " Help ! help !" the mate cries, drawing his revolver ; 
but before he can use it another blow comes, and he falls dead upon the 
deck. The four sailors are rushing aft, but are confronted by the negro 
with the revolver. 

"Stop, or I'll shoot every one of you. Go down and take the irons 
off that man, or I'll kill you every one," he shouts, following them to the 
hatch. They release the Yankee sailor. 

" Now it is your turn," he says to the four ; and in a few minutes all 
of the Confederate sailors are in irons. 

"I am captain. About ship!" The German and Yankee shift the 
sails, and the schooner, Avhich a few moments before was gliding towards 
Charleston, is heading for New York. A storm comes on ; more men are 
needed. The Confederates are released. 

" If you obey orders you will be kindly treated ; if not, you will be 
shot," are th-e words of Captain Tillman. Five days more, and the 
schooner, with the Stars and Stripes at the mast-head, sails into New 
York — William Tillman captain. 



372 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Great the wonder. A negro do tliis ! The newspapers told the storj. 
Barnuni, the great sliownian, read it, and hastened on board the schooner. 
He must have tlie hero to exhibit in liis ninseum. Crowds come to see 
the man ivho devised and execnted the plan of recapturing a vessel from 
the Confederates, and who had exhibited courage and manlj qualities as 
great as tliat of William Tell or any other hero of history. He had re- 
captured the vessel, and was entitled to the prize-money — five thousand 
dollars, which Congress voted him. 

It set j)eople in the Northern States, Avho thought of the negro as a 
weak and cowardly race, to thinking. What white man had done braver 
things ^ What w^hite man had laid a plan more skilfully, or executed it 
more deliberately ? Would not the time come when the slaves would 
strike a blow for freedom ? 

" To this colored man," said the JVeiv York Tribune, " is this nation 
indebted for the first vindication of its honor on the sea. It is an achieve- 
ment which alone is an offset to the defeat of the Union troops at Bull 
Run." 

The Confederate privateer, after capturing the fS. J. VTaring, \vent 
cruising over the sea, capturing other vessels, among them the Enchant- 
ress, off the shoals of I^antucket. It had left Boston the day before, and 
was pointing its prow for St. Jago. The cook on the Enchantress was 
a colored man, who alone was kept on board by the captain of the Jeff 
Davis. He, too, was to be sold when the vessel reached Charleston. The 
privateer went on her cruise, and the Enchantress, with a Confedei'ate 
crew on board, set her sails for that port. There w^as no chance for the 
one colored man to strike a blow for liberty such as William Tillman had 
given. He saw no way of escajje. In a few days he would be sold into 
slavery. 

The vessel was near Cape Hatteras. United States blockading vessels 
were off Hatteras Inlet. The captain of the gunboat Alhatross saw a ves- 
sel steering south, and ran alongside. The sea was calm ; there was little 
wind. 

" What ship is that V shouted Captain Prentice of the Alhatross. 

" The Enchantress:' 

"Where are you from?" 

"Boston." 

" Whither bound ?" 

" St. Jago." 

Captain Prentice, satisfied with the answer, was ready to steer away, 
when the sailors saw a negro sjjring up from the hatchway of the En- 



CEUMBLING OF THE CONFEDERATE CORNER-STONE. 373 

chantress like a jack-in-a-box, and leap over the taffrail into the sea and 
swim towards the gunboat. 

"Tliej are a privateer crew from the Jeff Davis, bound for Charles- 
ton," shouted the negro. 

" Pick up that man ; down with the boats !" was the order of Captain 
Prentice. Down went the boats. 

"Heave to," was his order to the Enchantress, and that vessel came 
round, obedient to the command. The negro told his story, and a few 
minutes later the Confederate crew were in irons, and the recaptured 
vessel steering for Hampton Roads. 

Going down now to Charleston, we see a blockading fleet, the Confed- 
erate flag flying defiantly above Fort Sumter, and a Confederate gunboat, 
the Planter, cruising in the harbor. It is used b}^ General Ripley, com- 
manding at Charleston, as a despatch-boat, going nearly every day down to 
the fort, and sometimes running past it to take a look at the Union war- 
sliips. She has a 32-pounder pivot-gun and a 24-pounder howitzer. 

The pilot of the Planter is a colored man, Robert Small. He knows 
all the shoals, shallows, and channels of the harbor, and all the inlets along 
the coast. He sees the Union war-ships, and knows that the flag waving 
at their mast-heads is the emblem of freedom. He believes that the Yan- 
kees, of whom he has heard a great deal, are the true friends of his race. 
While piloting the Planter around the harbor and through the intricate 
passages of the coast, he is turning over a plan which he resolves to put 
into execution. 

Monday night comes, May 12, 1862. The Planter lies at her wharf 
in Charleston. The captain and otficers are on shore. The fires are out. 
Robert is in charge of the vessel. If the police of Charleston had been 
sharp-eyed they might, perhaps, have seen at midnight several negroes 
gliding along the streets towards the wharf where the Planter was 
moored, but they did not discover five women and three children, the 
wives and little ones of the colored crew of the steamer. 

For more than six weeks Robert Small has turned over his plan. 
For three days he has been secreting things in the hold of the vessel. 
The night is wearing away. It is two o'clock in the morning when one 
of the firemen strikes a match and sets the kindlings on fii'^e under the 
boilers. The Planter is getting ready for a great day's work. At four 
o'clock the steam is hissing from the escape-valve. 

" Cast off !" It is lowly spoken by Captain Robert Small, self-appoint- 
ed to command the steamer. The vessel swings, the paddle-wheels plash 
the water. The flags of South Carolina and of the Confederacy are flying 



374 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

above tlic decks. Down the harbor glides the vessel as on other morn- 
ings. Passing Fort Johnson, Captain Small pulls the cord, and two puffs 
of steam escape through the whistle. It 'is the customary salute. Little 
does the sentinel, jDacing his beat on the parapet of the fort, mistrust that 
there has been a change of commanders on the Planter during the night ; 
that the man who stands in the pilot-house with the cord in his hand has 
assumed a great natural right, and is about to deal the Confederacy a pow- 
erful blow. 

On towards Fort Sumter, past it, saluting as on other days, glides the 
Planter. The sentinel on Sumter gazes at her, wondering what the 
captain is doing, steering straight down the channel towards the nearest 
Union war-ship, the Onward. 

The sun has not risen. It is the dim gray of the morning. There is 
a commotion on board all tlie Union gunboats. The boatswains pipe their 
whistles. " All hands to quarters I" shouts Captain Parrott, of the gunboat 
Augusta. The cannon are loaded. " Stand ready thei'e !" 

The gunners aim at the advancing vessel, and are ready to open fire, 
when suddenly they see the Palmetto and Confederate flags come down 
the halyards, and a white flag go up. The vessel runs alongside the Au- 
gusta. Captain Parrott is astonished when Captain Pobert Small informs 
him of his exploit. He has brought out a vessel worth twenty thousand 
dollars, and presents it to the United States Government, together with 
four cannon and a large quantity of ammunition, which was to have been 
delivered to the Confederate commander in Fort Pipley. There are nine 
colored men on board who have come over to the side of the Union. 

It was a thrilling despatch which Admiral Dnpont, commanding the 
fleet, sent to Washington announcing the event. i^Tegroes do this ! The 
people read it in amazement. The newspapers opposed to the war, and 
which were declaring it a failure, and had all the while been denouncing 
the negroes as a race that could not take care of themselves, did not know 
what to make of it. 

Congress voted that Robert Small and his crew were entitled to the 
prize-money, just the same as if he had been captain and they the crew 
of a naval vessel. 

We are to rememl^er that the war as begun was for preserving the 
Union by maintaining the Government ; but the nation was marching 
towards freedom. Three days before Pobert Small brought out the 
Planter, Major-general Hunter, commanding at Hilton Head, issued a 
proclamation. He said : " Slavery and martial law in a free country 
are incomj)atible. The persons in these States — Georgia, Florida, and 



CRUMBLING OF THE CONFEDERATE CORNER-STONE. 375 

South Carolina — heretofore held as slaves, are therefore declared to be 
free." 

President Lincoln revoked J:his order for the same reason that he had 
revoked General Fremont's. He had sent a message to Congress urging 
the gradual abolishment of slavery bj compensating the masters. 

Ealpli Waldo Emerson, the thinker, had this to say about it : 

" Pay ransom to the owner, 

And fill the bag to the brim. 
Who is the owner ? The slave is owner, 
And ever was. Pay him." 

Congress was ready to pay for the slaves, and so were the people of 
the N^orthern States, but the conspirators who had brought about the war 
were fighting to establish a government with slavery for its corner-stone. 

In his message to Congress President Lincoln appealed to the Border 
States — Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri, which had declared 
for the Union — to emancipate the slaves. " The change," said Mr. Lin- 
coln, " would come as the dews of heaven — not rending or wrecking any- 
thing." 

The people of the Xorth were slowly coming to the conviction that, 
to preserve the LTnion, slavery must be destroyed, and were watching Mr. 
Lincoln's attitude with great solicitude. Public men, ministers, and relig- 
ious bodies called at the White House urging him to issue a proclamation 
abolishing slavery. People in England sent memorials hoping that he 
would take such action. " If it is done, no foreign nation will dare to 
espouse the cause of the South. You will have the sympathy of the peo- 
ple of England," they said. 

The " Peace Democrats," as they called themselves, men who opposed 
the war, were loud in their denunciations of any interference with the in- 
stitution. General McClellan while at Harrison's Landing, forgetting his 
relations to the President, who was commander-in-chief, wrote a letter to 
Mr. Lincoln. He said : " Neither confiscation of property, political execu- 
tion of persons, territorial organization of States, nor forcible abolition of 
slavery, should be contemplated for a moment. . . . Military power should 
not be allowed to interfere with the relations of servants. ... A declara- 
tion of radical views, especially upon slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our 
present armies." 

General McClellan was at the head of the army — a subordinate to 
obey orders, to jDrosecute the war, but in this letter he was instructing the 
President of the United States as to what he ought, or ought not, to do in 



376 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

political affairs. It brought quick replies from the newspapers. Horace 
Greeley, of the New York Tribune, Mr. Lincoln's earnest friend, pub- 
lished an open letter to the President, entitled the " Prayer of Twenty 
Millions," to which President Lincoln replied, August 22, 1862. He 
said : "My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save 
or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing a slave, 
I would do it. If I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it. 
If I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also 
do that." 

The hearts of the people were greatly stirred. They sent the minis- 
ters who preached to them to Washington to plead with the President. 
Slaves were raising corn and wheat for the South. " They are doing the 
work, while the white men were fighting," said a delegation of ministers 
from Chicago. 

" What good," Mr. Lincoln said to them, " would a proclamation of 
emancipation do as we are now situated? I do not want to issue a docu- 
ment which the whole world will see must necessai'ily be like the Pope's 
bull against the comet. Would my word free the slaves when I cannot 
even enforce the Constitution f 

There were warm debates in Congress. Senator Crittenden, of Ken- 
tucky, had voted against Mr. Lincoln, but had come to honor and respect 
him. Mr. Crittenden loved the Union. His son Thomas was a major- 
general in the Union army, his son George a major-general in the Confed- 
erate army. 

" There is a niche in the temple of fame," he said, " near to Washing- 
ton, which should be occupied by him who shall save the country. Mr. 
Lincoln has a mighty destiny. It is for him, if he will, to step into that 
niche. Mr. Lincoln is no coward. His not doing what the Constitution 
forbade him to do, and what our institutions forbade him to do, is no 
proof of cowardice." 

Mr. Owen Lovejoy, from Illinois, whose brother had been shot by a 
pro-slavery mob at Alton, in 1837, was also Mr. Lincoln's earnest friend. 
Springing to his feet, he said : 

" The gentleman from Kentucky says he has a niche for Abraham 
Lincoln. AVhere is it?" Mr. Crittenden raised his hand and pointed 
upward. " He points towards heaven. But should the President follow 
the counsels of that gentleman, and become the defender and perpetuator 
of human slavery, he should point downward to some dungeon in the 
Temple of Moloch, who feeds on human blood, and is surrounded with 
fires ; where are forged manacles and chains for human limbs ; in the 



CRUMBLING OF THE CONFEDERATE CORNER-STONE. 377 

crypts and recesses of wliose temple women are scourged and men tort- 
ured. That is a suitable place for the statue of one who would defend 
and perpetuate human slavery. ... I, too, have a niche for Abraham Lin- 
coln, but it is in freedom's holy fane, and not in the blood-besmeared tem- 
ple of human bondage ; not surrounded by chains and fetters, but with 
the symbols of freedom ; not dark M'itli bondage, but radiant with the 
light of liberty. If Abraham Lincoln pursues the path evidently pointed 
out for him in the Providence of God, as I believe he will, then will he 
occupy the fond position I have indicated. That is a fame worth living 
for; ay, worth dying for, though that death led through the blood of 
Gethsemane and the agony of the accursed tree. That is a fame which 
has glory and honor and immortality and eternal life. His name shall 
not only be enrolled in the earthly temple, but it shall be traced on the 
living stones of tlie temple which rears itself amidst the thrones and hie- 
I'archies of heaven, whose top-stone is to be brought in witli shouting of 
' Grace, grace unto it.' " 

The world did not then know that long before the beginning of this 
debate in Congress, before Horace Greeley wrote his letter, before the peo- 
ple began to call upon him at the White House with petitions and me- 
morials, President Lincoln had resolved upon his course of action. To 
intelligently understand his action we must go back over the years to that 
day when he stood, a ilatboatman, in the market in New Orleans, and saw 
a slave auction, his great and noble soul revolting at the sight. From 
that moment he hated slav^ery with all the intensity of his nature. We 
are not to forget the address on genius which he made in 1837, before a 
Lyceum in Illinois : " Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It thirsts 
and burns for distinction, and will seek it by emancipating slaves, or in 
regions hitherto unexplored." 

Through the weary months of the war, while the loyal people thought 
him dilatory, halting, and almost doubted his sincerity, he was marking out 
his own course. There were influences that came to him that others did 
not take into account. He had seen the mighty hosts, M-ith glistening 
arms, march past the Executive mansion, swinging their hats to him as the 
representative, the federal head of the great republic of fi-ee labor. He 
had heard their prophetic evangel — 

"John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave; 
His soul is marching on." 

Those whom he had loved best had laid down their lives for the Union. 
Before the outbreak of the war he had declared that the nation could not 



378 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

exist half slave and half free. On tlie banks of the Chickahominy were 
lying in their graves thousands who had saluted him with their cheers. 
Everv newspaper that he opened had some story of service rendered to 
the army by slaves, or pathetic descriptions of their kindness, their pray- 
ino; for freedom. During the month of June, while the cannon were thun- 
dering at Gainesville and Malvern Hill, he was thinking about writing a 
proclamation of emancipation, and early in July prepared a rough draft. 
In his own private chamber he asked God to direct him. The proclamation 
lay in his desk through the month, unseen by any human being. We come 
to the first week in August. The members of the Cabinet have assem- 
][)led— specially called. President Lincoln enters with a paper in his hand, 
but instead of telling the members of the Cabinet what it is, begins to 
read aloud a funny story from a book written by the humorist " Artemus 
Ward." He laughs heartily. His spirit has been chafed and worn through 
the weary days and restless nights by tidings of disaster to the great army 
on the James, by the aspect of affairs in the West, where Buell is in re- 
treat. For a moment his spirit throws off all care, then the book is tossed 
aside, and the man who a moment ago was convulsed with laughter, is so 
grave and serious that the members of this great council of the nation, 
themselves grave and honorable, gaze in awe upon the dignity and great- 
ness of the wonderful man. 

" I have resolved to issue a proclamation of emancipation. I have not 
called you together for advice in regard to issuing it, but for suggestions 
in regard to the subject-matter." 

He reads, and the members of the Cabinet listen. Mr. Blair objects 
to saying anything about arming the slaves, because it will repel many 
Northern people, and affect the result of the approaching elections. Mr. 
Cliase, on the contrary, wishes the language about arming the slaves made 
much stronger. 

" Mr. President," said Secretary Seward, " I approve of the proclama- 
tion, but 1 question the expediency of its issue just now. The depression 
of the public mind consequent upon our repeated reverses is so great that 
I fear the effect of so important a step. It may be viewed as the last re- 
source of an exhausted Government — a cry for help — the Government 
stretching forth its hands to Ethiopia, instead of Ethiopia stretching forth 
her hands to Government— our last shriek on tlie retreat. I suggest its 
postponement until the army wins a victory." 

President Lincoln accepts the suggestion. The Cabinet dissolves, the 
proclamation is laid away, the public does not know that it has been writ- 
ten. General McClellan, thinking that a proclamation may be issued, writes 



CRUMBLING OF THE CONFEDERATE CORNER-STONE. 379 

to the President a letter opposing such action. Stonewall Jackson falls 
upon Pope. Then come the disasters at Manassas, the falling back of the 
army to Washington like the drift of a wreck upon the shore, and the 
march of the Confederates into Maryland. 

In the silent night Abraham Lincoln is communing with God, utter- 
ing a solemn vow that the proclamation giving freedom to the slaves shall 
be issued the moment a victory has been won. 

On Wednesday, September ITth, comes the battle of Antietam. On 
Friday Lee recrosses the Potomac to Virginia. On Sunday President 
Lincoln is weighing each word of the great charter of freedom, and on 
Monday, September 22d, it is issued to the world. Thus it read : " All 
persons held as slaves on the 1st of January, 1863, in any States, or parts 
of States, then in rebellion should be then, thenceforth, and forever free." 

" It is an invitation to the blacks to murder their masters," wrote the 
editor of the Boston Courier^ who opposed the war. The next day the 
editor said, " The slaves will fight for their masters," which was not 
quite consistent with what he said the day before. 

The newspapers which opposed the war were bitter in their denunci- 
ations. " It will destroy the Union," said one. " It is harmless and im- 
potent," wrote another. " The slaves will cut their masters' throats," said 
a third. 

Slave-holders from Kentucky and Maryland who professed to be for 
the Union hastened to Washington, asking the President to revoke it, 
but all over the North loyal men rejoiced. 

There were man}'- old planters who clung to slavery with a tenacity 
like that of barnacles to a worm - eaten hulk. The Louisville Journal 
condemned the proclamation, giving utterance to the voice of the slave- 
holders, declaring that the proclamation would have no binding force in 
that State ; but the soldiers hailed it with joy. They felt that slavery 
was the cause of the war, and were longing to see it overthrown. Gen- 
eral Bragg having left the State, many masters began to look up their 
slaves, some of whom had fled to the Union lines for protection. 

One wing of the army w'as resting at Williamstown, about twenty-five 
miles south of Cincinnati, in which was a division commanded by Gen- 
eral Q. A. Gillmore. When the army began a forward movement in pur- 
suit of Bragg, General Gillmore issued an order known as General Orders 
]^o. 5, which reads as follows : " All contrabands, except officers' servants, 
will be left behind when the army moves to-morrow morning. Public 
transportation will in no case be furnished to officers' servants. Command- 
ers of regiments and detachments will see this order promptly enforced." 



380 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Among the regiments of the division was the Twenty-second Wiscon- 
sin, commanded by Colonel Utley, an officer who had no sympathy with 
slavery. He had a cool head and a good deal of nerve. He had read the 
proclamation of President Lincoln, and made up his mind to do what was 
right, recognizing the President as commander-in-chief, and not the State 
of Kentucky. He did not turn out negroes accompanying his regiment. 
Three days later he received the following note : 

"Colonel, — You will at once send to my headquarters the four contrabands — John, 
Abe, George, and Dick — known to belong to good and loyal citizens. They are in your 
regiment, or were this morning. Your obedient servant, 

"Q. A. GiLLMORE, Brigadier-general." 

Colonel Utley, instead of sending the men, rej^lied : 

"Permit me to say that I recognize your authority to command me in all military mat- 
ters pertaining to the military movements of the army. I do not look upon this as be- 
longing to that department. I recognize no authority on the subject of delivering up 
contrabands, save that of the President of the United States. 

"You are, no doubt, conversant with that proclamation, dated September 23, 1863, 
and the law of Congress on the subject. In conclusion, I will say that I had nothing to 
do with their coming into camp, and shall have nothing to do with sending them out." 

The note was despatched to division headquarters. Soon after an offi- 
cer called upon Colonel Utley, who, when the war began, was editor of 
a newsjDaper in Wisconsin, a man of convictions, and ever ready to stand 
by them, no matter what it might cost. His regiment was known as the 
" abolition " regiment. 

" You are wanted, sir, at General Gillmore's quarters." 

Colonel Utley made his appearance before General Gillmore. 

" I sent you an order this evening." 

"Yes, sir, and I refused to obey it." 
- " I intend to be obeyed, sir. I shall settle this matter at once. I shall 
repeat the order in the morning." 

" General, to save you the trouble, let me say that I shall not obey it." 

The colonel, departed. Morning came, but brought no order for the 
delivery of the contrabands to their former owners. 

The regiment marched the next morning with loaded muskets. The 
citizens beheld their negroes sheltered and protected by a forest of gleam- 
ing bayonets, and concluded not to attennDt the recovery of the uncertain 
property. 

While the regiment was near Lexington a negro came into the bri- 
gade. The colonels of three regiments would not permit him to remain 



CRUMBLING OF THE CONFEDERATE CORNER-STONE. 381 

ill their camps, but the soldiers of Company A in the Twenty-second Wis- 
consin gave him food and shelter. lie told a tale of brutality that stirred 
tlieir blood. He had been half-starved, whipped, and pounded. He knew 
by instinct that the South was fighting to keep him in slavery, tliat the 
North was fighting for freedom. 

The day after the arrival of the regiment at ISficholasville a large, 
portly gentleman, lying back in an elegant carriage, rode up to the camp, 
and making his appearance before the colonel, introduced himself as Judge 
Robertson. 

" I am in pursuit of one of mj boys, who, I understand, is in this regi- 
ment," he said. 

" You mean one of your slaves, I presume ?" 

" Yes, sir. Here is an order from the general, which you will see di- 
rects that I may be permitted to enter the lines and get the boy," said 
the judge, with great dignity. 

"I do not permit any civilians to enter my lines for any such pur- 
pose," said the colonel. 

The judge sat down, not greatly astonished, for the reputation of the 
Twenty-second Wisconsin as an abolition regiment was well established. 
He began to argue the matter. He talked of the compromises of the Con- 
stitution, and proceeded to say : " I was in Congress, sir, when the Missouri 
Compromise was adopted, and voted for it ; but I am opposed to slavery, 
and I once wrote an essay on the subject, favoring emancipation." 

" Well, sir, that may all be so. If you did it from principle, it was 
commendable ; but your mission here to-day gives the lie to your profes- 
sions. I don't permit negro-hunters to go through my regiment ; but I will 
see if I can find the boy, and if he is willing to go I will not hinder him." 

The colonel M-ent out and found the negro, Joe, a poor, half-starved, 
under-sized boy, nineteen years old. He told his story. He belonged to 
the judge, who had let him to a brutal Irishman for fifty dollars a year. 
He had been kicked and cuffed, starved and whipped, till he could stand 
it no longer. He went to the judge and complained, but had been sent 
back, only to receive a worse thrashing for daring to comjjlain. At last 
he took to the woods, lived on walnuts, green corn, and apples, sleeping 
among the corn-shucks and wheat-stacks, till the army came. There were 
tears in Joe's eyes as he rehearsed his sufferings. 

The colonel went back to the judge. 

" Have you found him ?" 

" I have found a little yellow boy, wdio says that he belongs to a man 
in Lexino:ton. Come and see him." 



382 DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

" This man claims you as his property, Joe. He says that yon ran 
away and left liim," said the colonel. 

" Yes, sah, I belongs to him," said Joe, who told his story again in a 
plain, straightforward manner, showing a neck scarred and cut by the whip. 

" You can talk with Joe, sir, if you wish," said the colonel. 

"Have not I always treated you well ?" the judge asked. 

"No, massa, you hasn't," was the plump reply. 

"How so?" 

"When I came to you and told you I couldn't stand it any longer, 
you said, ' Go back, you dog !' " 

" Did not I tell you that I would take you away ?" 

" Yes, but you never did it." 

The soldiers came round and listened. Joe saw that they were his 
friends. The judge stood speechless a moment, 

" Joe," said the -colonel, " are you willing to go home with your 
master ?" 

" No, sah, I isn't." 

" Judge Kobertson, I don't think you can get that boy. If yon think 
you can, there he is ; try it. I shall have nothing to do with it," said 
the colonel, casting a significant glance at the soldiers. 

The judge saw that he could not lay hands on Joe. " I'll see whether 
there is any virtue in the laws of Kentucky," he said, with great emphasis. 

" Perhaps, judge, it will be as well for you to leave the camp. Some 
of my men are a little excitable on the subject of slavery." 

" You are a set of nigger-stealers," said the judge, losing his temper. 

"Allow me to say, judge, that it does not become you to call us nig- 
ger-stealers. You talk about nigger-stealing — you who live on the sweat 
and blood of such creatures as Joe ! Yonr dwellings, your churches are 
built from the earnings of slaves, beaten out of them by brutal overseers. 
You hire little children out to brutes ; you clothe them in rags ; you 
hunt them with hounds; you chain them down to toil and suffering! 
You call us thieves because we have given Joe food and protection ! I 
would rather l)e in the place of Joe than in that of his oppressor !" was 
the indignant outburst of the colonel. 

"Well, sir, if that is the way you men of the North feel, the Union 
never can be saved — never! You must give up our property. The 
President's proclamation is unconstitutional. It has no bearing on Ken- 
tucky. I see that it is your deliberate intention to set at naught the 
laws," said the judge, turning away, and walking to General Gillmore's 
lieadquarters. 



CEUMBLING OF THE CONFEDERATE CORNER-STONE. 383 

" You are wanted at the general's lieadqiiarters," said an aide soon 
after to Colonel Utley. 

The colonel obeyed the summons, and found there not only Judge 
Itobertson, but several other gentlemen ; also Colonel Coburn, the com- 
mander of the brigade, who agreed with General Gillmore in the policy 
then current. 

Colonel Coburn said, " The policy of the commanding generals, as I 
understand it, is simply this : that persons who have lost slaves have a 
right to hunt for them anywhere in the State. If a slave gets inside of 
the lines of a regiment, the owner has a right to enter those lines, just as 
if no regiment were there, and take away the fugitive at his own pleasure." 

" Precisely so. The proclamation has no force in this State," said the 
judge. 

" I regret that I am under the necessity of differing in opinion from 
my commanding officers, to whom I am ready at all times to render strict 
military obedience ; but " (the colonel raised his voice) "/ reverse the 
Kentucky jpolicy ! I hold that the regiment stands precisely as though 
there were no slavery in Kentucky. AYe came here as free men, from a 
free State, at the call of the President to uphold a free government. We 
have nothing to do with slavery. The Twenty-second Wisconsin, while 
I have the honor to command it, will never be a regiment of nicjger- 

' O CIO 

catchers. I will not allow civilians to enter my lines at pleasure ; it is 
unmilitary. Were I to permit it, I should be justly amenable to a court- 
martial. Were I to do it, spies might enter my lines at all times and 
depart at pleasure." 

There was silence. But Judge Robertson was loath to go away with- 
out Joe. He made one more effort. 

" Colonel, I did not come to your lines as a spy, but with an order 
from your general. Are you willing that I should go and get my boy ?" 
' The colonel reflected a moment. 

" Yes, sir ; and I will remain here. I told you before that I should 
have nothing to do with it." 

" Do you think that the men will permit me to take him T 

" I have no orders to issue to them in the matter ; the}'^ will do just as 
they please." 

" Will you send the boy into some other regiment ?" 

This was too much for the colonel. He could no longer restrain his 
indignation. Looking the judge squarely in the face, he vented his anger 
in scathing M'ords. 

The judge departed, and at tlie next session of the court Colonel Utley 



384 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

was indicted for man-stealing. A quarter of a century has passed since 
then, l)ut he has not yet been brought to trial, and the case is postponed 
forever. 

The judge returned to Lexington, called a public meeting, at which 
he made a si3eech denouncing the Twenty-second Wisconsin as an aboli- 
tion regiment, and introducing resolutions declaring that the Union never 
could be restored if the laws of the State of Kentucky were thus set at 
defiance. This from the judge, while his son was in the Confederate 
servnce fighting against the Union ! 

But the matter w^as not yet over A few days later the division con- 
taining the Twenty-second Wisconsin, commanded now by General Baird, 
was ordered down the river. It went to Louisville, followed by the slave- 
masters, wlio were determined to have their negroes. 

A citizen called upon Colonel Utley, and said, " Colonel, you will have 
trouble in going through the city unless ^''ou give up the negroes in your 
lines." The regiment was then on its march to the wharf. " They have 
taken all the negroes from the ranks of the other regiments, and they 
intend to take yours." 

The colonel turned to his men, and said, quietly, " Fix bayonets !" 

The reHment moved on throusfh the streets and reached the Gault 
House, where the slave - holders had congregated. A half-dozen ap- 
proached ; one, bolder than the rest, sprang into the ranks and seized a 
negro by the collai*. 

A dozen bayonets came down around him. lie let go his hold and 
sprang back again as quickly as he had entered the lines. There was a 
shaking of fists and loud curses, but the regiment passed on to the landing 
just as if nothing had happened. 

General Granger, who had charge of the transportation, had issued 
orders that no negro should be allowed on the boats without free papers. 

General Baird saw the negroes on the steamer, and approaching Colo- 
nel Utley, said, "Why, colonel, how is this? Have all of these negroes 
free papers ?" 

" Perhaps not all, but those who haven't have declared their inten- 
tions !" said the colonel. 

The Twenty-second took transportation on the steamer Cointnercial. 
The captain of the boat was a Kentuckian, who came in great trepidation, 
saying, " Colonel, I can't start till those negroes are put on shore. I shall 
be held responsible. My boat will be seized and libelled under the laws 
of the State." 

" I can't help that, sir ; the boat is under the control and in the em- 



CRUMBLING OF THE CONFEDERATE CORNER-STONE. 385 

ploy of the United States Government. I am commander on board, and 
you have nothing to do but to steam up and go wliere you are directed. 
Otherwise I shall be under the necessity of arresting you." 

The captain departed, and began his preparations. But now came the 
sheriff of Jefferson County with a writ. He wanted the bodies of George, 
Abraham, John, and Dick, who were with the Twenty-second Wisconsin. 
They w-ere the runaway property of a fellow named Hogan, who a few 
days before had figured in a convention held at Frankfort in which he 
introduced a series of secession resolutions. 

" I have a M'rit for your arrest, but I am willing to waive all action on 
condition of your giving up the fugitives wdiich you are harboring con- 
trai'y to the peace and dignity of the State," said the sheriff. 

" I have other business to attend to just now. I am under orders from 
my superiors in command to proceed down the river without any delay, 
and must get the boat under way," said the colonel, bowing politely. 

" But, colonel, you are aware of the consequences of deliberately setting 
at defiance the laws of a sovereign State ?" said the sheriff. 

" Are you ready there ?" shouted the colonel to the officer in charge of 
shipping the quartermaster and commissary supplies. 

"Yes, sir." 

" Then cast off !" 

The w^arp which held the Commercial was thrown loose, the swiftly 
running current sweeping under the keel lifted the bow, and the boat 
began to swing from the shore. 

The game was finished. Colonel Utley and the Twenty-second Wis- 
consin had won. If the sheriff had not leaped on shore he would have 
been compelled to take a trip down the Ohio against his will. 

Judge Robertson had lost his slave, but the courts were open to him, 
and he brought suit against Colonel Utley and obtained judgment, attach- 
ing the property of the colonel and compelling him to pay for the abduc- 
tion of the slave. 

Revolutions never go backward. The confiict of ideas was sweeping 
the nation to a higher and loftier appreciation of the meaning of this gov- 
ernment of the people. The past, the old system, the conception that the 
Government was for white men alone, Avas giving place to the idea that 
every man, irrespective of race, lineage, color, or condition, was entitled to 
equality before the law. Men who had learned their lessons in the public- 
schools were thinking for themselves upon the great questions which un- 
derlie a government of a free people. In the great conflict of ideas free 
thought, free speech, free action were to win the victory. 
25 



386 DEUxM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



CHAPTER XYI. 

FREDERICKSBURG. 

IT was an orderly and well-managed retreat which General Lee made 
from the battle-field of Antietam across the Potomac to the vicinity of 
Winchester. General McClellan was satisfied with what he had accom- 
plished. He had driven Lee out of Maryland. Two days after the battle 
he wrote : " Our victory is complete, and the disorganized rebel army has 
rapidly returned to Virginia, its dream of invading Pennsylvania dissi- 
pated forever. I feel some little pride in having, with a beaten and de- 
moralized army, defeated Lee and saved the North." 

The people of the Northern States rejoiced that Lee had been defeated 
at Antietam, but when they read the accounts of the battle they saw that 
McClellan had missed the chance of utterly crushing the Confederate 
army. For the future McClellan proposed to remain in the vicinity of 
Harper's Ferry, and rest, recruit, and reclothe the army. This his plan 
on September 27th : " My present purpose is to hold the army about as it 
is now, rendering Harper's Ferry secure, and watching the river closely, 
intending to attack the enemy should he attempt to cross to this side. . . . 
In the last battles the enemy was undoubtedly greatly superior to ns in 
number, and it was only by very hard fighting that we gained the ad- 
vantage w^e did." 

He still believed that the Confederates greatly outnumbered the Union 
troops, and called for reinforcements. 

On October 1st President Lincoln visited the army. General McClel- 
lan thus writes in regard to the visit : " His ostensible purpose is to see the 
troops and the battle-field ; I incline to think that the real purpose of his 
visit is to push me into a premature advance into Virginia. I may be 
mistaken, but I think not. The real truth is that my army is not fit to 
advance. The old regiments are reduced to mere skeletons, and are com- 
pletely tired out. They need rest and filling up. The new regiments are 
not fit for the field." 

General McClellan did not like the Proclamation of Emancipation. 



FKEDERICKSBURG. 389 

His friend Mr. Aspinwall came to see him. He writes this relative to 
his coming : " Mr. Aspinwall is decidedly of the opinion that it is my 
duty to submit to the President's proclamation, and quietly continue to 
do my duty as a soldier." 

Finding that General McClellan had no plan, President Lincoln, upon 
his return to Washington, instructed General Halleck to direct him to 
"cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy or drive hira south. 
Your army must move now wdiile the roads are good. If you cross the 
river between the enemy and Washington, and cover the latter by your 
operation, you can be reinforced by thirty thousand men. If you move 
up the valley of the Shenandoah, not more than twelve or fifteen thou- 
sand can be sent you." Though thus directed, the army did not move. 

General J. E. B. Stuart, commanding the Confederate cavalry, was a 
very able officer. When McClellan was on the Chickahominy he had rid- 
den round the Union army, destroying a railroad train, burning a large 
amount of supplies. He obtained permission from General Lee to make 
a very bold and hazardous movement into Pennsylvania. He knew that 
there was a large amount of clothing and supplies at Chambersbm-g. He 
is at Charlestown, his brigades encamped on Mr. Dandridge's farm. He 
selects eighteen hundred of his best men, and Major Pelham with four 
cannon. At daylight on the morning of October lOtli he crosses the 
Potomac at McCoy's Ferry. A fog conceals his movements. General 
Kenly is at Williamsport with a brigade of Union infantry. A mes- 
senger informs him at seven o'clock of what Stuart is doing, but Kenly 
has no cavalry, and Stuart hastens on to Mercersburg, seizing what boots 
and clothing they can find in that town. Xothing is taken in Maryland, 
but once in Pennsylvania, the soldiers seize all the horses they can find. 
General Stuart has issued strict orders against plundering; Were he to 
permit it, his troops would soon be demoralized and beyond control. On 
the evening of the lOtli the people of Chambersburg are surprised to see 
a company of Confederates dash into the town, rush to the buildings 
where the supplies for McClellan's army are stored, and exchange their 
worn-out suits of gray for the bright-blue clothing worn by the soldiers 
of the Union. They drink for the first time in many months delicious 
coffee. A few help themselves to private property, but are instantly 
arrested and punished by Stuart. 

At daylight Stuart is moving south-east towards Gettysburg, setting 
the railroad buildings on fire as he leaves the town. Rain is falling in 
torrents, but he cannot wait for clearing skies. He knows that every ef- 
fort will be made to prevent his return. N'o walking of horses now, but 
25* 



390 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

there must be hard riding. Horses break down, but tlie riders help thetn- 
selves to others at the first farm. At sunset on the 11th Stuart is at Em- 
mettsburg, in Maryland. The sympathies of the people in that town are 
with the South, and they welcome him with open arms. He cannot stay 
to enjoy their hospitality, but through the night the column moves on, 
avoiding Frederick, where there is a Union force, reaching the Potomac at 
the mouth of the Monocacy, and escaping to the Virginia shore just as two 
bodies of Union troops were closing upon him. The Union cavalry sent 
to cut him off, by false information had gone west, when it should have 
gone east, and had lost so much time in retracing its steps that Stuart es- 
caped, losing only three men, carrying twelve hundred horses into Vir- 
ginia, besides destroying the supplies at Chambersburg. It was mortify- 
ing to General McClellan and irritating to the people of the North. Xew 
regiments had been sent him, and the army on October 20th numbered 
one hundred and sixteen thousand. We now know that Lee's army num- 
bered about sixty thousand, though General McClellan believed it to be 
as large as his own. 

The President wrote a letter to General McClellan. Thus it read : 

" You say that yoix cannot subsist your army at Winchester unless the railroad from 
Harper's Ferry to that point is in working order; but the enemy subsists his army at 
Winchester at a distance nearly twice as far from railroad transportation as you would 
have to do. He wagons his supplies from Culpeper Court-house. You dread his going 
into Pennsylvania, but if he does so in full force he gives up his communications to j^ou 
absolutel}^ and you have nothing to do but to follow and ruin him. If he does so with 
Jess than full force, fall upon him and beat what is left behind. 

"If he should move northward, I would follow him closely. If he should move tow- 
ards Richmond, I would press closely to him, if a favorable opportunity should present, 
and at least try to beat him to Richmond on the inside track. We must beat him some- 
where. If we cannot beat him where he now is, we never can, he being again within the 
intrenchments of Richmond." 

On October 26tli three pontoon-bridges were laid across the Potomac, 
and the army began to cross, but not until November 2d was the whole 
body of troops on the other side. Fifteen thousand men were left to 
guard Harper''s Ferry, but twenty thousand were sent out from AVashing- 
ton to join McClellan. The roads were in excellent condition, the days 
delightful, the army in good spirits. 

General Lee knew all that was going on, and when the army began to 
move south along the base of the Blue Ridge, Long-street's corps passed 
through one of the gaps and took position at Cul^^eper, leaving Jackson's 
corps in the valley. 

There were engagements between the cavaliy of the two armies. 



FREDERICKSBURG. 393 

Stuart was covering the falling back of Longstreet, There was a sharp 
fight at the little town of Markham ; another at Barbee's Cross-roads, in 
which the Confederates were driven. The Union cavalry for the first 
time had been organized in brigades, and was doing effective work. 

This was General McClellan's plan : " It was ray intention if, npon 
reaching Ashby's or any other pass, I found that the enemy were in force 
between it. and the Potomac, in the Yalley of the Shenandoah, to move 
into the Yalley and endeavor to gain their reai-. 1 hardly hoped to ac- 
complish this, but did expect that by striking in between Culpeper Court- 
house and Little Washington I could either separate their army and beat 
them in detail or else force them to concentrate as far back as Gordons- 
ville, and thus place the Army of the Potomac in position either to adopt 
the Fredericksburg line of advance upon Richmond or to be removed to 
the Peninsula if, as I apprehended, it were found impossible to snpply it 
by the Orange and Alexandria Railroad beyond Culpeper." 

It was not a very definite plan. It looked once more towards a re- 
moval of the army to the Peninsula. 

General McClellan was sitting in his tent at eleven o'clock in the 
evening, November 7th. Two officers entered — General Buckingham, 
bringing a letter from Washington, and General Burnside. General 
McClellan opened the letter and i-ead : 

"By directioa of the President of the United States, it is ordered that Majoi'-general 
McClellan be removed from the command of tlie Army of the Potomac, and that Major- 
general Burnside take command of the army. 

"By order of the Secretary of War." 

General Burnside did not wish to be commander-in-chief. He felt 
that he was not competent to command an army numbering one hundred 
and twenty-seven thousand. Twice he had refused the ofliered command, 
and accepted it only because he felt it to be his duty. 

He reorganized the army, creating three grand divisions. The right 
wing was commanded by General Sumner, and included the Second 
Corps, commanded by Couch, and the Ninth, by Wilcox. The left wing 
was commanded by General Franklin, and included the First Corps, un- 
der Reynolds, and the Sixth, nnder General Smith. The centre was com- 
manded by General Hooker, and included the Third Corps, under Sickles, 
and the Fifth, nnder Butterfield. General Burnside thought that it would 
be easier to handle the army by such an organization. At Antietam, 
when he was making his attack, he called upon General Porter for help, 
but Porter could not assist him without orders from McClellan ; but un- 



394 DRUxM-13EAT OF THE NATION. 

der this arrangement a grand division commander could always have two 
corps at his disposal. 

General Burnside determined to make a rapid march south-east along 
the north bank of the Eappahannock to Fredericksburg, cross the river 
and move on towards Richmond, establishing a new base of supplies at 
Acquia Creek, on the Potomac. 

Why not attack where he was ? General Ilalleck visited the army and 
endeavored to persuade Burnside to attack Lee at Gordonsville. They 
had long consultations. Ilalleck returned to Washington and laid the 
matter before President Lincoln, who assented to what Burnside proposed. 
It was to make Lee believe that he was going to attack him at Gordonsville, 
at the same time make a rapid march with Sumner's grand division down 
the north bank of the Rappahannock to Fredericksburg, and cross the 
Rappahannock on pontoons which General Ilalleck agreed to have there. 

At eleven o'clock on the morning of l^ovember 14th General Burn- 
side issued his orders for the right wing, under Sumner, to move at day- 
lio-ht the next morning. A strong party of pioneers with axes started in 
advance to cut bushes from the path. On Monday afternoon the troops 
were on the Falmouth Hills overlooking Fredei-icksburg ; the other grand 
divisions followed. 

The Confederate force in Fredericksburg consisted of the Fifteenth 
Virginia Cavalry, four companies of Mississippi infantry, and Lewis's bat- 
tery — only six or seven hundred — who were surprised to see the men 
in blue swarming upon the opposite side of the river. Captain Lewis, 
of the Confederate artillery, wheeled his battery into position and sent a 
shell which struck a wheel of one of Captain Pettit's cannon, who the 
next moment opened fire with his ten-pounder Parrott guns, tiring with 
such sure aim that the Confederate gunners drew off their pieces. 

General Lee, in his report of operations, states that Sumner " was 
driven back by Colonel Ball with the Fifteenth Virginia Cavalry, four 
companies of Mississippi infantry, and Lewis's light battery." There was 
no driving back, for General Sumner made no attempt to cross. There 
was no fighting, except the brief cannonade and the retirement of the 
Confederate battery. 

The pontoons had not arrived ; the railroad to Acquia Creek had not 
been repaired ; the part which General Ilalleck had promised to see to 
liad not been done. While the troops are standing there they see a herd 
of cattle feeding in the pastures along the south bank of the Rappahan- 
nock, just above the town. A steer goes down to drink, steps into the 
stream, keeps wading till it reaches the Falmouth side. 



FREDERICKSBURG. 395 

Colonel Brooks, commanding a brigade, sees liow high on the animal's 
side the hair is wet, and that the water is only three and a half feet deep. 
A messenger rides from Sumner with a letter to Burnside, asking permis- 
sion to cross and seize the hills on Mr. Taylor s farm, north of the city. 

" Wait till I come," is Bnrnside's reply. Burnside arrived and looked 
over the ground. Sumner had forty thousand men, which he could cross 
at once. 

" The risk is too great ; wait for the pontoons," he said. 

Before morning Sumner's whole corps could have been securely in- 
trenched on the hills opposite. In a few hours the partly destroyed rail- 
road bridge could have been repaired. The rest of the army was close 
at hand. It would have been easy for the other corps to have crossed. 

The next day the Confederates — McLaws's and Ransom's divisions — 
arrived, seizing the hills on Mr. Taylor's and Marye's farms, throwing up 
intrenchments and planting their cannon. 

Perhaps it will never be known who was responsible for the delay of 
the pontoons, which did not leave Washington till November 10th, three 
days after Sumner's arrival, and which did not reach Burnside till the 
25th. A great mistake had been made in Washington by somebody — a 
fact which we must keep in mind in judging of General Burnside's plans, 
movements, and failure. Twelve more days pass, the army reposing the 
while on the Falmouth and Stafford hills, over which General Washington 
rode in his boyhood. 

The M'hole of General Lee's army was encamped on the hills behind 
Fredericksburg. Standing on the Falmouth side, I could see white tents 
in the distance. At night there was the glow of innumerable camp-fires. 
Morning, noon, and night I could hear the bugle-call of the cavalry and 
artillery, and the rataplan of the drum and the rumbling of wagons. 
There were but few people remaining in the town. The Confederate 
pickets patrolled the southern bank of the stream ; the Union the northern. 

"When are you going to Richmond?" asked the Confederate. 

"We'll let yon know by-and-by," was the answer. 

What should General Burnside do? On the Upper Rappahannock 
he had been confronted by only two-thirds of Lee's army ; now the whole 
Confederate force was on the hills before him. Every day the intrench- 
ments were becoming stronger, and the Confederate batteries were all in 
position. On the Upper Rappahannock no pontoons were needed, but 
here they must be laid under a heavy fire. The Army of the Potomac 
had marched directly away from the Confederate army, opened a new 
base of supplies, expecting to take up its march towards Richmond ; 



396 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

but the Confederate army, behind unassailable intrenchments, blocked the 
wa3\ Bnrnside thought of making a second move down the river towards 
Belle Plain, lay the pontoons there, and cross ; but somehow General Lee 
knew all about it, and sent D. II. Hill's division to occupy the ground 
opposite the place selected for crossing. Winter had come ; the river was 
rising. That plan would not do. The army must not, however, go into 
winter-quarters. The Northern people wanted to hear that Richmond 
had been captured. From the beginning of the war the cry had been, 
" On to Eichmond !" 

On the 10th of December General Burnside called his officers together 
and laid his plan before them. It was to plant all the heavy artillery 
along the hills (nearly one hundred and fifty guns), lay pontoons in five 
places, and cross the army at night. Franklin's grand division was to 
attack on the left ; Sumner's on the right. 

Soon after dark on the night of the 10th the Engineer Brigade, with 
the pontoons on wheels, came down from the Stafford hills. Two bridges 
w^ere to be laid near the railroad ; two more a third of a mile down the 
stream, opposite the lower end of the town ; two more a mile and a half 
farther down, almost to Mr. Burnard's house. Sumner and Hooker were 
to use those opposite the town, and Franklin those near Burnard's. The 
engineers took the boats from the wagons, anchored them in the stream, 
and commenced laying the timbers and planks. A dense fog hung 
over the river, which concealed their o2)erations, and before daybreak the 
bridges were half completed. The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Missis- 
sippi, of Barksdale's brigade, and the Eighth Florida, of Perry's brigade, 
were on picket along the river, while the Thirteenth and Twenty -first 
Mississippi and Third Georgia were in reserve in the town. The Confed- 
erate sentinels walked the bank through the long night, peering into the 
darkness, and listening to catch the meaning of the confused hum which 
floated to them across the stream. 

At five o'clock in the morning two signal -guns were fired on the 
heights of Fredericksbui-g, rousing the troops of both armies. As the day 
dawned there came a rattling of musketry along the river. Barksdale's 
pickets opened fire. The gunners at the batteries were quick to respond, 
and sent grape and canister across the stream. The Confederate pickets 
opposite the lower pontoons soon disappeared, and the engineers com- 
pleted their work. But in the town the Mississippians took shelter in 
the buildings, and poured a deadly fire upon the bridge-builders. Almost 
every man who attempted to carry out a plank fell, and the work came to 
a stand-still. 



FREDERICKSBUKG. 397 

" The bridge must be completed," said General Burnside. 

Once more the engineers attempted it. The fog still hung over the 
river. Those who stood on the northern bank could oidy see the flashes 
on the other shore. The artillerymen were obliged to fire at random, but 
so effective their cannonade that the engineers were able to carry the 
bridge within eighty or ninety feet of the shore ; and then so deadly 
was the fire of the Confederates that it was murder to send men out 
with a plank. 

General Burnside stood on the piazza of the Philips' house, a mile 
from the pontoons, with Sumner and Hooker. Aides and couriers came 
and went with messages and orders. 

"My bridge is completed, and I am ready to cross," was Franklin's 
message at half-past nine. 

" You must wait till the upper bridge is ready," was the reply. 

Two hours passed. A half-dozen attempts were made to complete the 
upper bridge, but it could not be done. Brave men, not belonging to the 
engineers, came down to the bank, surveyed the scene, and then, volun- 
teering their services, seized a plank, ran out, but only to fall before the 
sharp-shooters concealed in the cellars of the houses not ten rods distant. 
Captain Brainard, of the Fiftieth New York, with eleven men, volunteered 
to finish the nearly completed work. They went out upon the run. Five 
fell at one volley and the rest returned. Captain Perkins led another 
party himself, and fell with a ghastly wound, while half of his men were 
killed or wounded. These were sacrifices of life with nothing gained. 

The forenoon wore away. It was past one o'clock. General Burnside 
sent for General 'Woodbury, commanding the engineers, and for General 
Hunt, commanding the artillery, and talked over the situation. 

" It is impossible to complete the bridge. It is iTiurder to send men 
out to be shot down by the Confederates concealed in the cellars of the 
houses and firino; from the windows," said General Woodburv. 

By the code of war it would be allowable for Burnside to bombard 
the town, although there were women and children and non-combatants 
in the houses. He gave the order, and then one hundred and forty-seven 
cannon rained shot and shell upon the city. Kearly nine thousand mis- 
siles were fired. The air became thick with powder - clouds ; the earth 
shook beneath the cannonade. The shells set fire to a block of buildings, 
and a dark column of smoke rose heavenward. 

Few persons were injured, however, and the Mississippians were still 
in the cellars, ready to fire upon the bridge-builders. The first man who 
went out with a plank fell headlong into the water. One thing was plain 



398 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

— the Mississippians must be driven from their hiding-places before the 
work could go on. A force must be sent over in the boats, charge up the 
bank, and drive them from the houses. It would be a hazardoiiE under- 
taking. 

" Who will go ?" Colonel N. A. Hall, who was a lieutenant in Fort 
Sumter when Beauregard opened fire upon it, but now commanding a 
brigade, asks the question. He is colonel of the Seventh Michigan, one 
of the regiments of his brio-ade. The other regiments are the Nineteenth 

O C? O 

and Twentieth Massachusetts and Forty-second New York. They have 
fought at Fair Oaks, Savage's Station, Glendale, Malvern, and Antietam. 
The blood of Colonel Hall's own soldiers is up. 

" We will go !" they shout. 

The fog has floated away, the air is clear. The Mississippians are 
sending their bullets across the stream, but at a signal the men of the Sev- 
enth Michigan go down the northern bank upon the run, lift the boats 
from the wagons, push them into the river, and leap in. The paddles dip 
the water ; the men are a fair mark for the enemy. One by one tliey 
drop, but on they go, faster and faster, towards the southern shore. The 
boats ground ; the soldiers leap into the water and form under the shelter 
of the bank. 

The boats recross the river, take on board portions of the Nineteenth 
and Twentieth Massachusetts, who join the Seventh Micliigan. Together 
they charge up the bank, rush upon the houses, batter down the doors, 
driving out or taking prisoners the Confederates within. 

" They leaped into the rocking shallop; 
Ten offered where one could go; 
And the breeze was alive with laughter 
Till the boatmen began to row, 

"Then the shore where the rebels harbored 
Was fringed with a gush of flame, 
And buzzing like bees o'er the water 
The swarm of their bullets came. 

" But yet the boats moved onward- 
Through fire and lead they drove, 
With the dark, still mass within them, 
Aud the floating stars above. 

" Cheer after cheer we sent them, 
As only armies can — 
Cheers for old Massachusetts, 
Cheers for young Michigan. 



FREDERICKSBURG. -- 399 

"They formed in Hue of battle, 
Not a maa was out of place : 
Then with levelled steel tiiey hurled them 
Straight in the rebels' face." 

History furnishes but few records of more daring exploits than this. 
In fifteen minutes they cleared the houses in front of them, and took 
more prisoners than their party numbered ! 

It was half-past four in the afternoon — one of the shortest days of the 




ATTACK ON FREDERICKSBURG. — THE FORLORN HOPE SCALING THE HILL. 



400 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

year. The sun had disappeared in a dull gray bank of clouds ; darkness 
was coming on. Quickly, now, the bridge-builders finished their work, and 
the other regiments of Hall's brigade crossed, filed right and left, followed 
by Owens's brigade. 

The Confederate batteries through the afternoon bad been silent, but 
now from Taylor's Hill, north-west of the town, came solid shot and shell 
aimed at the bridge. The band of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth 
Pennsylvania, standing on the north bank, began to play to cheer the men 
while crossing, but there was a sudden stop to the music not put down in 
the score when a shell burst close by them. 

General Howard, commanding the division, formed his men on the 
southern shore — Hall's brigade on the right, Owens's on the left, and Sul- 
ley's in reserve by the river. The fighting was to take place in the streets. 
The Confederates could choose their positions. They knew every hiding- 
place whence they could fire and not be seen. 

1 stood on the river-bank and beheld through the gloaming the deploy- 
ment of the troops. First in the fight was the Massachusetts Twentieth 
advancing up a street, receiving a fearful volley from the Mississippians, 
losing in a few moments nineteen killed and eighty-one wounded. I could 
see single flashes from doors and windows where the Confederate sharp- 
shooters had secreted themselves, and then sheets of flame from the men 
in blue in the streets. Captain Macy was directed to clear the street lead- 
ing straight up from the river. The soldiers advanced, but the head 
of the column melted quickly away. Platoon after platoon went down. 
Ninety-seven officers and men were killed or wounded in the distance of 
one hundred and fifty feet. Though so many fell, the column did not 
falter, but with loud cheers rushed on, driving the Confederates from the 
houses. 

The skirmishers rushed up a side street, gained the fiank of the Con- 
federates, and captured nearly one hundred prisoners. 

" Old man," said one of the prisoners to Colonel Moorhead, command- 
ing the One Hundred and Sixth Pennsylvania, " you are safe. I have 
tried four times to hit you, but somehow didn't do it." 

Owens's brigade received a pattering fire from the sharp-shooters in 
the churches, but his men, sheltering themselves in door-ways, watched 
the flashes, and gave answering shots. 

One of the men killed was Rev. Arthur B. Fuller, chaplain of the 
'Sixteenth Massachusetts. He had rendered faithful service through the 
Peninsular campaign, working hard in the hospital day and night till his 
.health had given way. He had been honorably discharged the day before, 



l\ 



FREDEKICKSBURG. 401 

but knowing there was to be a battle Imd waited ; so intense liis patriot- 
ism he coukl not leave. lie took a musket, became a volunteer, and joined 
the regiment as a soldier. 

"I must do something for my conntry. Where shall I go?'' he said to 
Captain Dunn. 

" ISTow is a good time for you, if you wish to fight. Fall in on the 
left," was the reply. 

The bullets were flying thick and fast. He exposed himself needless- 
ly, standing in the middle of the street, and fell dead. 

Gradually the flashes ceased, and the quick, sharp rattle of musketry 
became like the last drops of a summer shower. 

Barksdale withdrew his troops to the outskirts of the town. Tliey had 
made a determined resistance. At the next pontoon below the Confed- 
erates had prevented its construction. Burnside ordered Colonel Haw- 
kins, commanding a brigade, to send over men in boats. Four boats were 
launched, and one hundred men of the Eighty-ninth New York crossed, 
captured sixty prisoners, and held the ground till reinforced. 

In one of the warehouses was a quantity of tobacco. Wlien the Con- 
federates saw that the town was likely to be captured they threw it into 
the streets ; but the Union soldiers quickly gathered it up, smoked their 
pipes round the camp-fires, and rehearsed the events of the day. 

There were stringent orders against plundering; but as the Confeder- 
ates had fired upon the advancing columns, and as Burnside liad bombard- 
ed the town, the soldiers reasoned that the command was inoperative, and 
so appropriated to their own use whatever pleased their fancy. They 
cooked bacon and eggs, made hot cakes in the kitchens, eating them with 
sugar and molasses. They carried mattresses and beds into the streets, 
spreading them upon the sidewalks for a luxurious night's repose; dressed 
themselves in old-fashioned, antiquated clothes, danced and sang, and" 
played upon the pianos. I saw a soldier throw away his cap and put on a 
tall hat, taking his place in the ranks, his comrades making fun of him for 
wearing a " stove-pipe " hat. 

Those who laid themselves down to sleep upon the mattresses and car- 
peting were soon compelled to give them up to the surgeon for the use ol 
the wounded. Only the buildings nearest the river were entered. As the 
army had scrupulously regarded the order against plundering up to this 
hour, it is probable that the houses would not have been ransacked had 
they not been used for concealment by the Mississippi sharp-shooters. 
From that hour on to the close of the war the soldiers paid little heed to 
orders against appropriating private property for their comfort. 
26 



402 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Let US cross tlie Rappaliannock at the village of Falmouth, above 
Fredericksburg, and view the position of the Confederates. Opposite 
the village we see a canal winding along the base of Stansbury's Hill, and 
carrying water to a grist-mill in the town. 

Beyond Mr. Stansbury's house we see Mr. Taylor's house on another 
hill, and beyond that the house of Mr. Marye. Between Taylor's and 
Marye's is the plank-road leading from Hanover Street in the town west- 
ward to Orange Court-house. A sunken road runs along the base of the 
hill, with bank-walls on both sides. A brigade of men can lie there and 
find sure protection. Following this we come to another called the Tele- 
graph Road, which crosses Hazel Run and leads to Spottsylvania. 

General Longstreet's corps occupied the ground from the Rappahan- 
nock to Hazel Run. He had forty cannon on Taylor's Hill to sweep the 
fields behind the town with an enfilading fire, and fifteen guns to send a 
plunging fire straight down upon the fields. Out on Lee's Hill, to the 
right of Marye's, were thirty guns, to sweep a deep cut in the unfin- 
ished railroad winding up Hazel Run. The cannon were all behind breast- 
works which slaves had constructed during the three weeks that Burnside 
waited. 

" I have one gun that I cannot find a place for," said Captain Alex- 
ander of the Confederate engineers, who had the placing of the cannon 
in charge. 

" Put it in somewhere," said Longstreet. 

"AVhy, general, you cannot comb your head with a fine -tooth comb 
any cleaner than I can rake the field with the artillery," Captain Alexan- 
der replied. 

Nearly two miles below Fredericksburg, near the river, stood a large 
and stately mansion, surrounded by a beautiful grove — the house of Mr. 
Alfred Burnard. The Englishmen who settled in Virginia were fond of 
giving pleasant names to their estates. This one was known as Mans- 
field, which General Franklin used as his headquarters. Mr. Burnard was 
a slave-holder, and the cabins of his negroes stood across the field south of 
his house. 

Going past the cabins, we cross a level field to the Bowling Green 
Road, lined with dark-green cedars. Looking south-east, we see a large 
house in the distance, the residence of Mr. Hamilton. The railroad lead- 
ing to Richmond makes a curve just before reaching Hamilton's, rounding 
the foot of a wooded hill. Were we to go down a little beyond Hamil- 
ton's we should come to the river Massaponax. This wooded point of 
land is the right of the Confederate line held by Jackson's corps, extend- 



FREDERICKSBURG. 



403 




BURNARD's house, FREDERICKSBURG. 



ing along the ridge to Hazel Run, whicli has its rise up in the ravines 
among the hills. 

General Lee knew that Burnside must attack one or both of his 
flanks, and had cut a road along the ridge, through the woods, so that he 
could move his troops quickly from right to left or from left to right. 

The 12th of December was foggy ; all day long the clouds hung low 
upon the hills. The army began its crossing — Sumner's troops into the 
town, Franklin's by Burnard's house. Sumner took over one hundred 
and four cannon, Franklin one hundred and sixteen. Hooker's grand di- 
vision remained on the north bank, to be sent over if needed. The army 
was on the south bank, but at sunset Burnside had not devised any plan 
for further action. 

" On the night of the 12th," said Burnside, in his report, " the troops 
were all in position, and I visited the different commands with a view to 
determine as to future movements." 

Burnside had one hundred and thirteen thousand men ; Lee seventy- 
eight thousand, behind strong intrenchments. Lee could use every piece 
of artillery ; of the Union cannon, only those belonging to Franklin's 
grand division could be used with any effect. Burnside visited Franklin, 
and then rode back to his headquarters and thought over what he would 
do. In the morning he ordered Franklin " to send out at once a division, 
at least, to seize, if possible, the heights near Captain Hamilton's." 



404: DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

He directed General Sumner to move out on the plank-road leading 
to Marye's Hill and seize the heights. These were the words of the or- 
der : " Holding these heights, with the heights near Captain Hamilton's, 
will, he hopes, compel the enemy to evacuate the whole ridge between 
these points." 

There was probably not a division of the Union army that contained 
ten thousand men ; while Jackson, in front of Franklin, had nearly forty 
thousand, Longstreet, in front of Sumner, had nearly as many more. Yet 
the order contemplated the easy brushing aM'ay of the Confederates on 
both flanks and the liolding of the heights, which shows that General 
Burnside, honest and loyal, wanting to do great things, had really no ad- 
equate comjjrehension of the situation. He had twice refused to accept 
the command of the army ; had declared again and again that he was 
not competent ; but he had accepted the position, as a duty, when it was 
thrust upon him. His first plan had been thwarted by the inefficiency 
of somebody in Washington ; his grand opportunity for getting possession 
of the heights had gone by ; the jjeople of the North w^ere clamoring for 
a movement of the army somewhere, and here he was with his army in 
position, not knowing what he ought to do, yet doing just what he ought 
not to do — sending out two divisions, to be overwhehned piecemeal. It 
would require very little generalship on the part of General Lee, or any- 
body else commanding the Confederates, to win a victory under such cir- 
cumstances. 

The First Corps held the left of the Union line. Going down the 
bank of the Rappahannock below Burnard's house, we see Doubleday's 
division extending from the river, at right angles with it, along the road 
leading to Richmond. The troops face south-east. Meade's division is 
next in line, facing south towards Hamilton's house ; then Gibbon, Sickles, 
and Birney, also facing south. In rear, near the river, are the divisions 
of the Sixth Corps — Howe and Brooks in front, Newton and Stoneman 
in rear. 

AValking down the Richmond road we come to the Confederates, A. P. 
Hill's division, with Archer's brigade on the extreme right, reaching down 
to the point where the railroad curves round the hill. Next in line are 
Lane's and Pender's brigades. Behind Hill are the troops of Early's and 
Taliaferro's divisions, and behind all D. H. Hill's. It is about thirty rods 
from the railroad, up a gentle slope, to the line of intrenchments, where 
Jackson's batteries are j^lanted to sweep the wdiole field from the ridge 
to the Rappahannock. The cannon, and the divisions in rear of them, 
are concealed in thick woods. 



FREDEKICKSBUEG. 



405 



Looking east, we see Stuart's cavalry and artillery drawn up on the 
level plateau, flanking Meade's position. One of his guns is .a long-range 
rifled piece. From his position he will pour an eniilading fire upon the 
Union lines whenever they advance. 

It was nine o'clock when Meade began to move. The sun was just 
beginning to clear away the fog. Meade moved towards the BoMding 
Green Road, but was obliged to halt while the pioneers cut away a hedge 
and bridsed a ditch so tliat the cannon could cross. 




DOUBLEDAY S SKIRMISHERS, FREDERICKSBURG. 



Suddenly there came the roar of a cannon breaking the stillness of the 
morning. 

I looked at my watch, and saw that it was just half-past nine. Meade, 
apprehending an immediate attack on his left flank, halted. He had three 
brigades — Sinclair's, Magilton's, and Jackson's — and four batteries. 

Sinclair's brigade was in the front line, Magilton's six hundred feet in 
rear, followed by Jackson's — in all, six thousand men. 

"When Stuart's solid shot came along the lines Meade halted Sinclair 
and swung Magilton up to his left, forming two sides of a square. 

"Plant your cannon there," said Meade, pointing to a knoll, and three 
batteries sent their shells across the level fields. 

Doubleday, seeing the flaslies of Stuart's cannon, pushed down the 
river, extending his line towards Meade, his troops facing Stuart. Ilis 



406 DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

batteries opened fire. "With Meade's batteries it made a cross-fire, which 
was so uncomfortable that Stuart was obliged to withdraw his guns. 

While this was going on the Confederate skirmishers crept along the 
hedges and opened fire, but two companies sent out by Meade drove them 
back. Stonewall Jackson, seeing Doubleday's movement, and thinking 
that it was Franklin's intention to turn his left flank, sent D. II. Hill's 
division to Stuart's aid. 

I rode out upon the plain and had a full view of the scene. Double- 
day w^as well advanced towards Stuart, his batteries in full play. Meade 
was across the Bowling Green Road, in the open field, marching towards 
the railroad. Gibbon was forming his division along the Bowling Green 
-Road. Nearly all of Franklin's batteries had advanced towards the road, 
and were sending solid shot and shells into the woods upon Jackson's 
troops. Sixty heavy cannon were sending missiles over the army, across 
the plain into the Confederate lines. 

Jackson's guns were thundering in response — Latham's, Johnson's, 
Mcintosh's, Pegram's, and Crenshaw's batteries. 

The cavalry, under General Bayard, is by Burnard's house. The* men 
stand by their horses, waiting orders. Their commander is sitting be- 
neath a tree, gazing upon the scene, smoking his pipe. I salute him, and 
he returns it with a smile of recognition. A solid shot comes across the 
field, and he who a moment ago was bidding me good-morning is speech- 
less evermore. lie lives but a few moments. 

As Meade's troops marched they came to a hollow before reaching 
the railroad, halted a moment, and then moved on. It was a clear field 
to the railroad embankment, behind which they could see the sunlight 
glistening from the bayonets of the Confederates. 

The direction of Meade's advance brings him against Lane's and 
Archer's Confederate brigades along the raih-oad. There is a gap be- 
tween the brigades, and there Meade drives his entering wedge. 

It is a fierce and bloody contest. The fourteen cannon on the hill 
pour their shells into the advancing Union line, firing over the Confed- 
erates ; but up to the railroad, over it, rush the Pennsylvanians, capturing 
two hundred prisoners and several standards. Archer and Lane are driv- 
en up the hill, followed by the Pennsylvanians. Archer shifts the Fifth 
Alabama from his right to his left, but is not able to stop Meade. He 
sends to General Gregg, who is in the woods, for help, and to Ewell, who 
is near Hamilton's house, and Trimble's and Lawton's brigades come upon 
the run. 

It was Sinclair's brigade which had struck the first blow, and now 



FREDERICKSBURG. 407 

Jackson's and Magilton's came in against Gregg's South Carolina brigade, 
pouring in a fire which struck down nearly three hundred South Carolin- 
ians, among them General Gregg, who clung to a tree and waved on his 
men till he dropped unconscious upon the ground. Lawton's brigade 
came, followed by Trimble's, Hays's, Field's, and Walker's — an over- 
whelming force — which curled around Meade's flank, capturing a large 
number of his men, and driving him back over the railroad. 

General Gibbon was to support Meade. He advanced to the railroad. 
The embankment was a breastwork, behind which the Confederates were 
lying. The fight w^as so severe that Gibbon, instead of supporting Meade, 
could not even hold his ground. Some of his regiments gave way, but 
the Ninety-seventh New York, the Eighty-eighth Pennsylvania, and the 
Twelfth Massachusetts made a brave fight. Koot's brigade came up, 
charged with the other regiments upon the embankment, captured some 
prisoners, and drove the others into the woods ; but Meade was being driv- 
en. Gibbon was wounded, and compelled to leave the field. Together the 
two divisions fell back, the Confederates following with exultant cheers ; 
but Birney advanced to meet them, wdiile General Ayre, commanding the 
artillery, wheeled thirty guns into position and hurled canister into the 
faces of the Confederates, sending them in turn back to the woods. 

It was mid-afternoon when the troops returned from the unsuccessful 
attack on the left. Meade had struck a vigorous blow, and had lost more 
than one-third of his men. It was a brave and energetic charge across 
the open field, over the railroad, into the w^oods, sweeping back Archer 
and Lane, and striking a blow upon Gregg. 

Of the sixty thousand men at Franklin's disposal, only from twelve 
to fifteen thousand had been engaged. Franklin had obeyed Burnside's 
order, but his own judgment would have put forty thousand in at the 
outset. 

While the sun was going down the Confederates advanced upon 
Howe's and Newton's divisions ; but it was a feeble attack. The artillery 
fire was too destructive for them to face ; besides, Lee, secure in his j)o- 
sition, was standing on the defensive. 

I rode up to the right to see the movements there. The order issued 
to General Sumner w^as to move out on the Orange Court-house plank- 
road with a division and seize Marye's Heights. General French's divis- 
ion of the Second Corps was selected to make the attack, to be supported 
by General Hancock's division. 

Let us survey the ground, that we may see the difficulties and obsta- 
cles to be overcome. Walking up Princess Anne Street, we reach the 



408 



DEUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



outskirts of the town, descend a liill, and come to the canal, filled with 
water. We are on the road leading to Orange Court-house. We cross a 
piece of marshy ground to a bank which, in the coming battle, is to be 




MAP OF FREDERICKSBURG AND VICINITY. 



a blissful resting-place and shelter to thousands of Union troops. There 
are fences dividing the meadows into fields and pastures. Fifty rods up 
the turnpike brings us to the foot of Marye's Hill, to the road which leads 
off to the left, sunken three feet below the surface of the field. 



FREDERICKSBURG. 



409 



The skirmishers advanced. Througli the forenoon the Confederate 
cannon on the heights liad been for the most part silent, bnt when the 
head of the column appeared, solid shot and shell came from the heights. 
The Eighth Ohio, marching up Hanover Street, was the first to feel the 
tempest, but without faltering it crossed the bridge and filed left into the 
meadow. At the same moment the First Delaware appeared on Princess 
Anne Street. At the instant most of the Confederate cannon were aimed 
at the Eighth Ohio, and the First Delaware was crossing the bridge be- 
fore the storm came. It filed right, and went on with little loss. IN'ot so 
fortunate the Fourth Ohio. 




,Jf^1\ 



There were one hundred 
and fifteen of this regi- 
ment detailed as skirmish- 
ers, and in a very few 
minutes five officers and 
forty - three men were 
killed or wounded ; but 
tliey cleared the ground, 
driving the Confederates 
from their hiding-places, 
advancing across the mead- 
ow, halting beneath the 
ridge, there finding par- 
tial shelter from the 
storm. 

General Nathan Kim- 
ball, the commander who 
defeated Stonewall Jack- 
son at Kearnstown, in the Shenandoah Yalley, is selected to lead the 
attack. He forms his brigade in Caroline Street, which runs parallel 
with the canal. I see the columns as they cross the bridges and deploy on 
the west bank of the canal in the meadow. The cannon which have been 
aimed at the skirmishers are turned upon the brigades, firing more rapidly 
than before. And now the Union cannon on the Stafl^ord hills — the long- 
range guns — begin to send solid shot and shells with long-time fuses over 
the town. Some of the shells burst high above the Confederates, throw- 
ing out handfuls of white cloud upon the clear blue sky, or, striking the 
embankments, toss cart-loads of earth into the air. 

General Cobb's Confederate brigade is in the sunken road, the men 
lying down close behind the stone wall. They bide their time. 



MARTE HOUSE. 



410 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Up from the shelter of tlie bank on the western verge of the meadoAv 
rises the advancing Union brigades. I see the men drop — a whole pla- 
toon — where a shell does its fearful work. The green grass is dotted with 
men in blue suddenly stricken down, but onward rolls the wave towards 
the heights. A line of light, and a white sulphurous cloud bursts out 
from the base of the hill. The men in blue come to a stand-still ; those 
on the right gain the shelter of a house and barn, but those on the left 
are in the open field, with more tlian one hundred cannon on the right, 
the left, and in front, all raining shells upon them, and the thousands of 
muskets blazing in their faces. 

The brigade commanded by Colonel Andrews, of the First Delaware, 
formed behind Kimball's. It was composed of the Fourth and Tenth 
New York and the Thirteenth Pennsylvania. Palmer's brigade was com- 
posed of the Fourteenth Connecticut, One Hundred and Eighth New 
York, and One Hundred and Eighth Pennsylvania, 

The Confederate artillerymen had secured the exact range, and opened 
upon each i-egiment successively, but with the same steadiness that had 
marked those preceding them they deployed in the meadow, moved over 
the field, advanced almost to the base of the hill, only to be driven back 
with fearful loss to the shelter of the ridge. 

General Sumner had obeyed Burnside's order by sending out a di- 
vision. It had inflicted little damage upon the enemy. He now or- 
dered Hancock's division to advance. There were three brigades — Zook's. 
Meagher's, and Caldwell's. It was mid-afternoon before the troops could 
be gotten into position. All the while Confederate shells were bursting 
in the air above the men lying close upon the ground beneath the bank. 

Out from the two streets came Hancock's columns. To cover in part 
their advance, General Sumner directed all the batteries which could ob- 
tain the range of the Confederate position to open fire, but it was very lit- 
tle they could do. Again Marye's, Taylor's, and Lee's hills are all aflame. 
Out on the left the men in blue are almost up to the sunken road, stand- 
ins: there and deliverinsc their fire with deliberate aim. In the conflict 
the Confederate commander. General Cobb, is killed while rallying his 
men. On the Union side General Kimball has been borne to the rear. 
Nearly all the commanders of brigades have been wounded. General 
Caldwell is disabled. Sixty -two of his officers and nine hundred and 
thirt^'-two men are killed or wounded. Colonel Cross, of the Fifth New 
Hampshire, is wounded. The next in rank takes command, to be wounded 
the next moment, followed by the third and the fourth oflicer in seniority. 
One hundred and sixty -five men are cut from the ranks, yet the sur- 



FREDERICKSBURG. 411 

vivors stand in line and deliver tlieir fire, but are compelled at last to re- 
tire. A little over five thousand men marched up the slope, but in a 
few minutes two thousand and thirteen are stricken from the ranks. 

General Sumner ordered up Howard's division. The troops were in 
the fight when the streets were cleared. They have been under arms 
through the day with nothing to eat, but they advance with the same in- 
trepidity that drove Barksdale from the streets ; but the volleys which 
they fire do little harm to the Confederates, while their own ranks are 
decimated by the continuous fire of the Confederates. General Ransom, 
commanding a Confederate division, respects the bravery of the men who 
exhibit such endurance. "They advanced with the utmost determina- 
tion," he said. 

The troops of the Second Corps were exhausted, and Sturgis's divis- 
ion of the Ninth Corps — Ferero's and Naglee's brigades — moved out be- 
tween the Telegraph Road and the railroad. The Twenty-first Massachu- 
setts has been in several battles ; it was at Roanoke Island and Newbern, 
at South Mountain and Antietam. The regiment is almost up to the 
sunken road, when Sergeant Collins, carrying the fiag, goes down. Ser- 
geant Plunket, who was born in Ireland, who came to America when lie 
was a little boy, who from the age of ten has earned his living, who was 
making shoes in West Boyleston, Massachusetts, when the thunder of the 
cannon at Sumter startled the nation, who left his shoemaker's bench, bade 
farewell to the girl who had promised to be his wife, to become a soldier, 
seizes the flag and shouts, "Come on!" and the regiment, catching his in- 
spiration, goes on. A shell explodes and Sergeant Plunket is down. Both 
hands are gone, but with his bleeding arms he clasps the flag to his heart, 
staining it with his blood. To him there is nothing on earth so dear. 

If there are brave men yielding their lives for a great idea in front 
of Marye's Hill, there are equally brave spirits behind the stone wall. 
General Edward Cobb, of Georgia, commanding the troops, is standing 
beneath the trees in Mrs. Stevens's garden when a cannon-shot crashes 
through the house, through bedroom and parlor, through the door, strik- 
ing the brave man to the earth. Up on yonder hill stands Mrs. Stevens 
beholding the scene, shells exploding around her, solid shot tearing up 
the earth. She has been ministering to the Confederate wounded, and 
now dashes down the hill, tears off a portion of her skirt, and seeks to 
stay the flowing of the blood from the ghastly wound. So this woman's 
devotion shines like a star above the carnage and desolation of that dark 
December day. 

General Burnside ordered Hooker to cross the river and join Sumner. 



412 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



General Hooker reconnoitred the ground, and saw how vain would be 
any attempt he might make. " I do not think that we can carry it," lie 
said, reporting in person to General Burnside. 

" The attempt must be made," was the reply. 

General Humphreys's division crossed the bridges of the canal. 




SKRGEANT PLUNKET. 



"You are to charge bayonets and drive them from the sunken road," 
was the order. 

The men fix their bayonets. I behold them as they leap up the bank 
on the western edge of the meadow. It is a rapid movement, which 
quickens to a run. They are almost up to the Confederate lines when 
again the line of light gleams along the brow of the hill. The front rank 



FREDEKICKSBUEG. 413 

of men in blue melts instantly away. Of the four thousand that advanced, 
one thousand seven lumdred have fallen. 

The sun is setting. At this hour a great number flee to the railroad 
excavation for shelter, but a battery on Lee's Hill sweeps it with a di- 
rect fire. The Confederate artillerymen bide their time, waiting till it is 
crowded with men in blue ; then the shells burst among them. General 
Lee beholds the slaughter from Marye's house. 

" It is well that this is so terrible ; we should grow too fond of it if 
it were not," he said to one of his officers. 

In battle there is usually little pity for those whom 3'ou are fighting ; 
you are there to kill men. The Confederates were fighting for an idea — 
for wdiat tliey believed to be just and right — as were the Union men. 
They know that a half-dozen Union men are going down to one Confed- 
erate ; know that they have an impregnable position, and wonder at the 
attempt to take it. Their pity is awakened as they behold the terrible 
slaughter. 

General Burnside determined to renew the attempt in the morning 
with the Ninth Corps ; he would lead it in person. He issued his orders, 
but General Sumner, General Hooker, and Genei-al Franklin remonstrated. 
It would be a horrible and useless sacrifice of men. 

Sunday morning dawned beautiful and clear. General Burnside was 
thinking what he would do. On the left, Avhere Meade had fought, and 
in front of the heights, were thousands of wounded. Humanity demand- 
ed that fighting should cease, and that they should be cared for. White 
flags were displayed ; the soldiers on both sides stacked their guns and 
talked with each other, the Confederates trading tobacco for coffee. 

" I am tired of fighting, and this war would soon be over if it were 
not for our officers," said a Confederate. 

Twelve thousand three hundred and twenty-one Union soldiers had 
been killed or wounded ; five thousand three hundred Confederates. 

There was but one thing to be done — withdraw his army. It must be 
done at night and in silence ; no sign of withdrawal must be made till 
darkness came. 

On the left there had been no fighting since the repulse of Meade and 
Gibbon. Stonewall Jackson was eager to attack. 

" We will make a night attack and drive them into the river," he said. 
He issued his orders. At dark his troops began to move into position. 
He sent word to General Lee of what he intended to do, but General 
Lee sent back word that he must not make any movement. 

Little did General Lee mistrust as to what was going on in the L^nion 



414: DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

lines — that tlie artillerymen were winding wisps of straw around the 
wheels of the cannon so that they would make no rumbling; that the 
divisions were moving rapidly away — the officers issuing their orders in 
a whisper. The wind is blowing from the south, the clouds are hanging- 
low, a storm approaching. 

It is just midnight when an officer reaches Colonel Williams, in com- 
mand of the pickets on the left. 

" Call in your pickets ; we are to take a new position. Make no 
noise," are the orders. 

The whisjjer runs along the line ; the men move silently away. 
Morning dawns, and Lee beholds Avith astonishment the Union trooj^s 
once more well within their camps on the north side of the river. 



I 



FROM NASHVILLE TO STONE RIVER. 415 



CHAPTER XYII. 

FROM NASHVILLE TO STONE RIVER. 

OX October 24, 1S62, the Secretary of War issued an order creating 
the territory in Kentucky and Tennessee east of the Tennessee River 
as the Department of the Cumberland, relieving General Buell and ap- 
pointing General Rosecrans in his place, who assumed command at Louis- 
ville on the 30th. He reorganized the army, appointing General McCook 
to command the right wing, General Crittenden the left wing, and Gen- 
eral Thomas the centre. There were three divisions in each wing and five 
in the centre. 

A month had passed since the battle of Perryville. During the time 
the army had been waiting to obtain clothing. The long march across 
the States of Tennessee and Kentucky from the Tennessee River, in north- 
ern Alabama, to Louisville on the Ohio, and the march from the Ohio to 
central Kentucky, and thence to Nashville, had worn out boots, shoes, and 
uniforms. The first thing to be done by General Rosecrans was to obtain 
fi'esli supplies and repair the railroads, which had been badly broken up 
by the Confederate cavalry. He saw that his own cavalry in comparison 
with that of the enemy was weak, but did not receive any reinforcements 
in that branch of the service, for the reason that the Government during 
the first year of the war did not see the need of cavalry. On the other 
hand, the Confederates from the outset saw what valuable services could 
be rendered by a body of horsemen moving rapidly from place to place, 
and made preparations accordingly. 

General Rosecrans set a large number of men at work repairing the 
railroad, but it could not be reopened till the 26th of November. During 
the month the army near Nashville could receive its supplies only by 
wagons transporting the provisions thirty-five miles. 

The Confederate cavalry all the while were on the move, tearing down 
and destroying, while the Union troops were repairing previous damages. 
While the army was refitting, the Confederates, under John Morgan, 
December 7th, dashed upon the town of Hartsville, on the Cumberland 



416 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

River, wliere there were three Union infantry regiments, a battalion of 
cavah-y, and two cannon, all under the command of Colonel Moore. Tlie 
alarm was given. Moore sent out a company of skirmishers and formed 
a line on a hill overlooking a ravine. Morgan advanced his infantry to 
the ravine and opened a destructive fire in front, while his cavalry swept 
round to the rear. The Union troops were thrown into confusion, and, 
being nearly surrounded. Colonel Moore raised a white flag and surren- 
dered. It was a notable victory for Morgan, who tlius captured nearly 
two thousand men, with all the camp equipage, wagons, horses, and two 
cannon. Jefferson Davis was at Murfreesboro' consulting with General 
Bragg, and was so well pleased that he appointed Morgan a brigadier- 
general. 

Morgan's success made him famous, and there was a great desire on 
the part of the young men of Tennessee and Kentucky to enlist in his 
command. He soon had seven regiments and between four and five thou- 
sand men. He divided his command into two brigades — one of three regi- 
ments, commanded by Colonel Basil W. Duke, with four cannon, and one 
of four regiments and three guns, under Colonel W. C. P. Breckinridge. 
Each regiment had a supply of axes, crow-bars, and sledge-hammers to 
destroy railroads and bridges. 

General Bragg came to the conclusion that General Rosecrans in- 
tended to go into winter-quarters at Nashville, and he determined to com- 
pel him to fall back to Louisville — not by fighting a battle, but by break- 
ing up the railroad so that he could not furnish his army with supplies. 
To carry out his plan he sent Morgan from Murfreesboro' to make a raid 
into Kentucky, Morgan's native State. He would still have a large force 
of cavalry left with his army. 

On December 22d Morgan started with his two brigades. The cav- 
alrymen were in high spirits. Many of them were from Kentucky, and 
well acquainted with all the roads. They would visit their friends, and 
would be warmly welcomed by those who sympathized with the Confed- 
erates. The harvests were gathered, and they would live upon the fat of 
the land. There were full c^ribs of corn for their horses, and good cheer 
for themselves. It would be glorious to swoop down upon the small bod- 
ies of Union troops posted to guard the railroad, take them prisoners, and 
theii destroy the bridges which Rosecrans had reconstructed. Two days 
after starting, the Confederates came upon a battalion of Michigan troops, 
who fought so bravely that Morgan lost two oflicers and seventeen men. 
The next day, December 25th, he had a second skirmish near Munfords- 
ville, in which he lost nearly fifty men. He came to Bacon Creek, where 



FROM NASHVILLE TO STONE RIVER. 417 

tliere were one hundred Union troops in a stockade ten feet liigli built 
of logs of wood set in the ground. He opened with his artillery, sent 
an officer demanding a surrender, which was refused. After another hot 
fire, he himself called upon the garrison to surrender, and promised such 
fair treatment that the offer was accepted. 

Morgan pushed on to Elizabethtown, where there were six hundred 
Union troops, under Lieutenant-colonel Smith, who fought six hours, but 
were obliged to surrender. He had reached what he was after — the long, 
high trestle-bridges near Muldraugh's Ilill, on the Louisville and Nash- 
ville Railroad. Tliere were two, each nearly five hundred feet in length, 
and between eighty and ninety feet high. Fires were kindled, Mdiicli ran 
up the great timbers, and in a few minutes the lofty structures were 
heaps of smouldering ruins. lie moved so rapidly that it was useless to 
send infantry to intercept him. He met with a defeat, however, at Roll- 
ing Fork and Salt River from Colonel Harlan's brigade, and at Lebanon 
lost one hundred and fifty men. 

Before Morgan began his advance, General Carter, with three regi- 
ments of Union cavalry, started from Lebanon, moved south-east, took a 
mountain road which wound through deep ravines, crossed the Cumber- 
land Mountains forty miles north east of Cumberland Gap, descended the 
Virginia side, and astonished the Confederates by appearing at Carter's 
Station, on the railroad leading from East Tennessee to Virginia, burn- 
ing bridges, tearing up several miles of track, and returning to Kentucky 
by the same route. Morgan's raid was far more damaging than that of 
Carter's ; but if General Bragg supposed that he was going to compel 
Rosecrans to fall back to Louisville, or that he could paralyze the Union 
array by cutting off its supplies, he was mistaken. Before Morgan started, 
Rosecrans had decided to march southward from Nashville, find Bragg, 
and attack him. It was a bold plan, for Bragg had an army larger than 
his own, and could choose his own ground. He could fight a battle when 
and where he pleased close to his base of supplies, with his troops all 
fresh, while Rosecrans must make a long and weary march, expose his 
troops to the rain and snow of winter, endure great hardship, and fight at 
a disadvantage. We must keep this in mind while we study the move- 
ment of Rosecrans upon Bragg at Murfreesboro', and the battle of Stone 
River, and what came of it. 

We must not lose sight of political affairs while we follow the move- 
ments of armies. The political situation was a very grave one. In Sep- 
tember, after the battle of Antietam, President Lincoln issued his first 
proclamation of emancipation, which gave great offence to those people in 
27 



418 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

the North who opposed the war. On the first week in November elec- 
tions had been held in all the Northern States for members of Congress, 
and in most of them for Governor. New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, 
and Indiana had elected Legislatures opposed to the war, and a majority 
of those elected to Congress were opposed to its continuance. In the 
Democratic political meetings resolutions had been passed demanding the 
withdrawal of the troops. It was said that the war was a failure, that the 
South never could be conquered, and peace was demanded at any price. 
General Rosecrans saw that a battle must be fought and a victory won. 
Although he had fewer troops than Bragg, though lie must march thirty 
miles and attack the enemy on ground of Bragg s own choosing, he did not 
hesitate an instant, nor was he to be turned from his purpose by anything 
which Morgan might do. When he heard of Morgan's movement he was 
getting ready to move, and his orders were issued promptly and decisivel3^ 

Of the five divisions under General Thomas, that commanded by Gen- 
eral Reynolds and two brigades of Fry's were detailed to guard the rail- 
road. General Mitchell was left to hold Nashville. This assignment took 
away half of General Thomas's command, leaving him the First Division 
of Rousseau's, Negley's, and Walker's brigade of Fry's division. General 
McCook had the divisions of Johnson, Davis, and Sheridan ; Crittenden 
the divisions of Wood, Palmer, and Van Cleve. The entire force was 
about forty-three thousand four hundred men ; but it was necessary to 
detail a large number of men to guard the trains from the attacks of the 
Confederate cavalry, reducing Rosecrans's force to less than forty thou- 
sand. 

Bragg had fifty -one thousand and thirty -six men, but the cavalry, 
under Morgan and Forrest, was away, reducing his force to forty-six thou- 
sand six hundred and four. On Christmas-day Rosecrans issued his or- 
ders to advance. For many a soldier it was the last Christmas on earth. 

In an account of the operations at Island No. 10 I told the stoiy of 
the exploit of Colonel Roberts, of the Forty-second Illinois, in spiking the 
guns of a Confederate battery during a terrific thunder-storm. He had 
been through several" battles, and was now commander of the Third Bri- 
gade of Sheridan's division. We shall see him on the battle-field. On 
Christmas- day he invited three friends to dinner. After dinner they 
drank a glass of wine. 

" Success to our arms," was tlie sentiment to which Colonel Roberts 
replied. He spoke of the Union, of liberty, of the army. 

" I will take all the chances of rebel bullets," he said. 

" So will I," said Colonel Harrington, of the Twenty-seventh Illinois. 



FROM NASHVILLE TO STONE RIVER. 



419 



" So will 1," were the words of Lieutenant-colonel Swanwick, of the 
Twenty-second Illinois. 

" And I," added Lieutenant Talliaferro. 

Before the week closed all four were numbered among the slain. 

At six o'clock on the morning of December 26th the Union troops 
began to move. Before noon Bragg, thirty miles away, at Murfreesboro', 
knew it, and issued his orders for the concentration of his troops. He 
selected a line about two and a half miles north of Murfreesboro', and 
ordered the construction of intrenchments. lie directed the cavalry to 
make a show of fighting, and retard the advance of the Union troops as 
much as possible, while he strengthened his position. 




ON THE MARCH IN A STORM. 



Murfreesboro' was once the capital of Tennessee. It is not a very 
large town, but roads radiate from it in all directions. The Nashville turn- 
pike and the railroad run north-west ; Stone River Tises among the hills 
twenty miles south of Murfreesboro', and runs due north, winding over 
a rocky bed. There was but little water in the stream at the time of 
the battle, but the troops could not readily get down to cross it without 
smoothing the banks. 

Half way from Murfreesboro' to Nolensville is Stewart's Creek, a 
small stream emptying into Stone River, flowing through a deep ravine. 
It would have been a strons: line of defence. General Rosecrans thought 



4:20 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

It possible that Bragg would select it for liis line, and his movements were 
directed accordingly^ ; but Bragg chose to tight nearer his supplies at Mur- 
freesboro', and so make the Union troops do all the marching. 

On Friday moi-ning the left wing, under Crittenden, marched down 
the Nashville pike three miles, and. Palmer's division in advance, came 
upon Wheeler's Confederate cavalry, which fell slowly back, skirmishing 
all day. Tlie division camped at night near La Vergne, having marched 
fifteen miles. 

General Crittenden had been ordered to move slowly, because General 
McCook with the right wing was marcliing south towards Triune, where 
General Hardee was supposed to be. General liosecrans intended to keep 
his army well in hand. It was eleven o'clock Saturday before Crittenden 
started from his bivouac, with General Wood's division in the advance. 
The head of the column reached the little village of La Yergne wlien 
there came a scattering volley from Confederate skirmishers. General 
Maury, with a brigade of Cheatham's division and Wheeler's brigade of 
cavalry, was there — not, however, to make a bold stand, but to delay the 
advance of the Union troops. 

General Wood ordered General ILascall to form liis brigade in two 
lines and charge upon the enemy. The order was obeyed and the Con- 
federates fled, reaching Stewart's Creek, and setting the bridge on fire, but 
the Union troops hastened forward and extinguished the flames. 

The Jefferson turnpike crosses Stewart's Creek five miles farther 
north. General Ilazen sent Captain Maxey with ninety men of the 
Fourth Michigan Cavalry to seize that bridge. They proceeded down 
the road and can:ie upon a company of cavalry. The Confederates re- 
treated, and there was an exciting race down the pike and across the 
bridge. The saving of the two bridges was of great importance, for it 
enabled the army to move on without fording the creek. 

It was a march through rain and mire, the wheels of the cannon sink- 
ing in the mud, the horses toiling, the men becoming weary ; but on the 
evening of the 30tli most of the divisions had arrived upon the ground 
where they were to fight a desperate battle. 

Braffff had formed his line of battle on Sunday, the 2Sth, and for two 
days had been throwing up intrenchments. Breckinridge's division was 
on the east side of Stone River, in a forest ; Cleburne's division was 
behind it. Bragg suspected that Eosecrans might cross the river and 
attempt to seize the town from the north-east. The main part of the 
Confederate army was on the west side of the i-iver, in the edge of a cedar 
grove. This line was nearly three miles in length, with the cavalry out 



FROM NASHVILLE TO STONE RIVER. 421 

upon the left flank. We see fields, fences, ravines, knolls, roads, and farm- 
houses. Bragg knows every foot of the ground ; Rosecrans knows noth- 
ing, except what he can discover as he rides hastily here and there. Un- 
fortunately he does not ride along the line occupied by the right wing. 
He does not see the ground, nor the faulty position of the troops under 
General McCook. 

General Rosecrans's headquarters were in a grove of cedars on the west 
side of the Murfreesboro' and Xashville turnpike, which runs straight as 
an arrow from that j^oint into the town. His division commanders, at 
nine o'clock on the evening of December 30th, came to headquarters to 
receive their orders. 

General McCook, commanding the right wing, is to await an attack 
from Bragg, or if Bragg does not attack he is to advance and engage 
the force in front of him. If attacked in large force lie is to hold his 
ground, while the centre, and especially the left, perform the work assigned 
them. 

The centre, under Thomas, is to open with skirmishing, and engage the 
enemy with IS^egley's division, assisted by Palmer's division of the left 
wing. Rousseau's division is to be in reserve behind JSTegley's. 

The left wing is to do the main work. Van Cleve's division is to 
cross Stone River at the lower ford. Wood's is to cross at the upper ford, 
and together they are to sweep Breckinridge from his position, move on 
and take possession of Murfreesboro'. The artillery of the two divis- 
ions, as soon as Breckinridge is driven, is to be planted upon a hill 
whence can be poured a destructive fire into the Confederate lines west 
of Stone River. It was a movement to turn Bragg's i*ight flank, to hurl 
two strong divisions upon Breckinridge's single division and crush it. 
AVhen that was done, Thomas in the centre and McCook were to press on 
and complete the work. Rosecrans knew that there was a large force in 
front of McCook, and the success of the plan would depend in a great 
degree upon the ability of McCook to hold his ground, or to fall back 
slowly if compelled so to do. 

Let us walk down the turnpike just two miles. We come to Bragg's 
headquarters, close by the turnpike, on the east side. He has been in po- 
sition two days behind his intrenchments, waiting for Rosecrans. He is 
restless and impatient. Although he has chosen his position to light a 
defensive battle, he decides to change his plan, and instead of waiting to 
receive a blow to give one. He will give two — he will not only attack 
Rosecrans but will cut off his supplies. Morgan with his cavalry is one 
hundred and thirty miles away in Kentucky, destroying the Louisville and 



422 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



Nashville Ruilroad. He has still five thousand cavalry left, and resolves 
to send Wheelers brigade to capture Rosecrans's supply trains. 

Wheeler had five regiments, two battalions, and two cannon. At mid- 
night on the 29th he moved north from Murfreesboro', crossed Stone 
River several miles from the town, reached Jefferson at daylight, and 
captured and destroyed a large number of wagons. He moved towards 
La Vergne, over the road along which Crittenden marched, captured an- 
other train, reached La Vergne at noon, destroyed all the supplies which 
Rosecrans had ordered to l)e forwarded to that town, pushed on to Rock 
Springs and destroyed another army train, reached Nolensville before 
night, and set the fifth train on fire. All the teamsters and soldiers ac- 
companying the trains were captured and 
paroled, and the horses taken for use. 
Leaving Nolensville, he returned to Mur- 
freesboro' to take ])art in the battle in the 
afternoon of December 31st. 

It was a bold stroke, and Bragg was 
able to accomplish it because Rosecrans 
had no adequate cavalry force to cope with 
him. Bragg's first blow was in all re- 
spects successful. It was mortifying to 
Rosecrans to learn that his supplies were 
cut off ; it Avas disheartening to the sol- 
diers. Bragg's plan, besides the cutting 
oft' of Rosecrans's supplies, was to attack 
Mith his left wing, to turn Rosecrans's 
right flank, drive McCook back east of 
the I^ashville turnpike, cut Rosecrans off from Nashville, and put the 
Union army to rout. It is not probable that Bragg had any idea as to 
what Rosecrans intended to do ; but his plan was an exact counterpart of 
Rosecrans's. Bragg intended to keep his right wing under Breckinridge 
east of the river, where it was, and to advance his left wing and centre. 
Rosecrans intended to keep his right wing where it M'as, and to swing 
forward his left wing and centre. Bragg decided to make his left wing 
very strong, in order to strike a crushing blow. We see Cleburne's divis- 
ion, which was on the east side of the river, starting at midnight, crossing 
the river, the turnpike, and the railroad, marching west and taking posi- 
tion in rear of McCown's division, having gone from the rear of the 
extreme right to the rear of the extreme left. 

General Sill commanded a brio-ade in the Union rio-ht wine;. He was 




BEGIKNING OP THE BATTLE. 



-^ 



FROM NASHVILLE TO STONE RIVER. 423 

on the front line, very near the Confederate troops. He could hear the 
tramping of men and the rumble of artillery. It was two o'clock in the 
morning when he went over to General Sheridan's headquarters. " Some- 
thing is going on ; I can hear troops in motion. I think they are getting 
ready to attack us," he said. 

General Sheridan hears the commotion, and together they go to Gen- 
eral McCook. Sheridan thinks that the Union line is too long, and that 
the reserve — Baldwin's brigade — is too far in the rear. McCook does not 
make any change of position, nor does he notify Rosecrans that something 
is froino; on in his front. 

General Thomas holds the centre, with Negley's division in the front 
line and Rousseau in the rear, extending to the turnpike. Between the 
turnpike and the river are the brigades of the left wing, which are to 
cross the river and fall upon Bi-agg's right flank, as planned by Rosecrans. 

Bragg has placed McCown's division in front of McCook, with Cle- 
burne's in his rear. They compose Hardee's corps, and are to swing 
around the Union right flank and drive McCook back to the turnpike. 
Wither's and Cheatham's divisions form Bragg's centre. Breckinridge 
holds the right east of the river. 

The advantages are on the side of the Confederates. They outnumber 
the Union army, are acquainted with the ground, have had no long and 
M'eary marches, have three daj's' cooked rations in their haversacks, have 
been in their tents during the rain of the 29th, are on ground of their own 
choosing, behind breastworks. 

The Union troops have marched, some of them between forty and fifty 
miles, through mud and rain, have bivouacked at night, have scant rations, 
are weary and footsore, have forded rivers, are chilled with the winter 
cold. They know nothing of the ground before them ; the Confederate 
cavalry have cut off their supplies ; they are to fight superior numbers 
in the open field ; they have had little sleep, and the hospitals are already 
filling with soldiers broken down by the exposure and hardship. 

General Rosecrans ordered the troops to be ready at seven o'clock. 
He could not well have fixed the time at an earlier hour, for some of the 
troops did not reach their positions till late on the evening of the 30th. 
Bragg, with his troops fresh and eager for battle, ordered McCown and 
Cleburne to advance at daylight. 

It is the last day of the year 1862. The war has been going on since 
April, 1861. Kentucky has taken sides for the Union, yet there are twelve 
thousand Kentuckians in the Confederate ranks. If Bragg wins in the 
approaching conflict he will advance into that State. If victory is his, if 



424 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

he can defeat and rout the army under Rosecrans, Nashville will fall into 
his hands, Tennessee and Kentucky be redeemed to the Confederacy. 
The defeat of Rosecrans will be disastrous beyond measure to the Union, 
but glorious to tlie Confederacy, 

Daylight is dawning when the Confederates of Rains's and Ector's bri- 
gades, followed by McNair's — their breakfast eaten, muskets loaded, knap- 
sacks and blankets left behind — move to the attack. They throw down 
a fence, cross the road wdiich runs west from the house of Mrs. Smith, 
the right of Mcl^air sweeping west of the house, and the three brigades 
making a half-wheel towards the north. 

The Union pickets open fire. General Kirk hears the musketry and 
leaps into his saddle. His brigade has eaten breakfast and is in line. He 
rides towards the pickets, and sees the long line of Confederates coming 
into the open field and wheeling north. 

" Forward, Thirty-fourth Illinois !" is his prompt order. " Tell Gen- 
eral Johnson that the enemy is advancing in force," was his message to 
that officer, sent by an aide. 

The Thirty-fourth Illinois advances to the support of the pickets and 
fires volley after volley. If General Bragg thought to surprise the Union 
troops he was mistaken ; they were awake, under arms, and getting ready. 
Edgarton's battery was in position, but the drivers had gone to the creek 
in rear to water the horses. General Kirk rode to Colonel Willich, com- 
manding a brigade, for help, but could not find him. The colonels of the 
reiriments thought that they ought not to advance without orders from 
their own commander. Kirk rides back. The Thirty -fourth Illinois is 
holding the whole of Ector's brigade in check. Kirk encourages them. 
He is in the thick of the fight, conspicuous on his horse. A Confederate 
singles him out and he falls mortally wounded. 

The Confederates, brought to a stand-still for the moment by the 
prompt and resolute action of the Thirty-fourth Illinois, press on once 
more. Men fire into one another's faces. The color-bearer from Illinois 
waves his flag. Right in front of him is the color-bearer of the Tenth 
Texas, who jumps forward and grasps it. The Ulinoisian seizes at the 
same moment the Confederate standard. The soldiers in both regiments 
see the struergle, and fire. Both men go down. Other men seize the ban- 
ners. Again the rattle of nnisketry, and both color-bearers fall — the Con- 
federates outnumbering the Union men. In the melee the Thirty-fourth 
loses its fiag and is driven. 

So near now were the Confederates that Edgarton's cannoneers had only 
time to fire two rounds before they charged upon and captured the guns. 



1 



I 



FROM NASHVILLE TO STONE KIVER. 427 

General Kirk had fallen. General AVillich was at Jolinson's headquar- 
ters a mile away. Willich's men were eating breakfast when the storm 
burst. Tliere Avas no one to command. A few companies fire upon the 
Confederates, but all is confusion. With a yell the Confederates rush for- 
ward and Willich's men flee. Captain Goodspeed sends two of his can- 
non to a knoll fo)- a better position ; but the Confederate cavalry under 
Wharton, out beyond the infantry, quickly capture them. 

The Twenty- ninth and Thirtieth Indiana, of Kirk's brigade, are ex- 
posed by the flight of Willich's men, and are obliged to retreat, but it is 
in good order. 

Only one regiment of the two brigades — the Seventy-seventh Penn- 
sylvania, of Kirk's brigade — holds its ground. The Confederates under 
McNair have swept past it. It is a small regiment, only three hundred 
in all. It changes position, facing west. The soldiers see a battery come 
up behind them and wheel into position, and suppose it to be Union, but 
it is Douglas's battery of Ector's brigade instead. Its captain sees that 
the Union troops are laboring under a mistake, and he will profit by it. 
lie unlimbers towards the west. 

" Double canister," is the order, and the double charge is rammed home 
into the six pieces, less than five hundred feet distant from the Union line. 

" Action to the right !" 

The six pieces are trained upon the regiment, and the next moment the 
air is thick with leaden rain. The regiment is cut through, but faces 
about, gives an answering volley, and then the few that are left fall back 
in order. 

McCook's right has crumbled — two brigades been put to rout, eight 
cannon lost : so quickly is it done that General Johnson knows nothing 
of the disaster till Willich's troops come straggling past his headquarters. 
He orders Baldwin's brigade to advance. 

The first success of the Confederates had been accomplished by 
McCown, who had swept far out to the left, leaving a gap in the Con- 
federate line, into which Cleburne's division moved, his right marching 
over the ground from which Willich and Kirk had been driven, his left 
coming against Post's and Carlin's Union brigades. Colonel Post saw 
that the Confederate line extended far beyond his left flank, and changed 
his position, falling back through the woods, forming on both sides of the 
cross-road leading from the Franklin Road to the Wilkinson Pike, posting 
Pinney's battery on the north side of the road. While he was doing this, 
Carlin's skirmishers were keeping up a galling fire upon Cleburne's ad- 
vancinof line. 



428 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

General Carlin was in a cedar grove and a rocky glen, where his troops 
could shelter themselves behind the bowlders. They were in two lines : 
One Hundred and First Ohio and Thirty-eighth Illinois in the first line, 
the Twenty -first Illinois and Fifteenth Wisconsin in the second. Through 
the cedars advanced Polk's and Wood's Confederate brigades — two thou- 
sand four hundred men. They di'ove in Carlin's skirmishers, but saw no 
line of men confronting them. They were moving joyfully forward when 
suddenly a staggering volley burst upon them. Some of the men started 
to run, but were rallied by their officers. Once more they advanced, but 
a second time were turned back. It wns the first serious check to the 
Confederates, and was of vital importance to Rosecrans. 

General Carlin orders his front line to advance. The men rise from 
their shelter and go forward with a cheer. As we look at it now, it per- 
haps would have been better if he had not issued the order, for the Con- 
federates saw how few they were— only two regiments. Twice the Con- 
federates had been hurled back by their deadly lire. Men do not like to 
attack an unseen foe, especially after the unseen foe has inflicted two stag- 
gering blows. The Union troops, sheltered behind rocks and trees, lying 
on their faces, had taken deliberate aim. They had cut down the Con- 
federates as hailstones cut the bearded grain, and had suffered little from 
their volleys. But now Wood and Polk drove them throngh the cedar 
forest back to their original position. 

In General Carlin's second line are the Twenty-first Illinois and Fif- 
teenth Wisconsin. They, too, are concealed from the enemy, and deliver 
a destructive fire ; but the Confederates under Wood are moving round 
upon their right flank. Colonel Alexander changes front, facing west, 
and makes fearful havoc in the Confederate ranks. It is a fight at close 
quarters. Color-bearers, one after another — four in all — are killed in the 
Twenty-first Illinois. More than two hundred of the regiment go down, 
but it holds its ground, rolling back the Confederate line. It is only for 
a few moments, however, for Hardee is sweeping all before him, while 
Polk is advancins: to attack Sheridan. It is now eio;ht o'clock. The 
battle has raged since daylight, resulting thus far in disaster to Rosecrans. 
All of his plans are upset. His right wing has crumbled ; fugitives are 
streaming through the woods ; his trains have been captured. The out- 
look is dark and gloomy. 

Out from the cedar groves streamed soldiers, teamsters, negroes — all 
in confusion, moving north towards the Nashville Turnpike. It was the 
first information that General Posecrans received that the right wing had 
been routed. 



FKOM NASHVILLE TO STONE RIVER. 429 

Before eight o'clock an aide from General McCook liad informed him 
that the right wing was hard pressed and needed assistance, but McCook 
had not informed him that Willich's brigade had been routed, and that 
officer captured ; that the whole of Davis's division had been driven in, 
and that the right wing had crumbled to pieces. It was hardly nine 
o'clock, and defeat stared Rosecrans in the face. 

At that moment Van Cleve's division of Crittenden's command was 
forming in line of battle east of the river, and T. J.Wood's division was 
marching down to the river. On the right the whole of Davis's division 
had been driven, and Hardee, with his victorious divisions of McCown and 
Cleburne, with the cavalry, were moving on to finish the battle. In the 
centre Polk's cannon were opening upon Sheridan, and Cheatham was 
hurling his brigades upon Carlin and Woodruff. 

"• There is always room for a man of force, and he makes for many," 
said the great thinker, Ralph AValdo Emerson. The Union commander is 
such a man. It is genius which can chang6 defeat to victory. These are 
Rosecrans's orders in quick succession : 

" General Thomas will order General Rousseau to support Sheridan. 

" General Crittenden will hasten Van Cleve across the river to the 
right of Rousseau. 

" General Wood will despatch Ilarker's brigade down the turnpike, 
and form on the riglit of Van Cleve. The other brigades of his division 
will remain in reserve. 

" The Pioneer brigade will stand in reserve on a knoll in rear of 
Palmer's brigade." 

Fifteen minutes, and Rosecrans's line of battle undergoes a great 
change. Rousseau crosses the railroad and the turnpike upon the double- 
quick. " In this field the battle is to be fought," he says, as he forms his 
line facing west. 

Van Cleve's men rush down to the river, wade the stream, gain the 
western bank, advance and form along the railroad and turnpike. The 
troops M'hich a few moments ago formed Rosecrans's left M'ing now be- 
come his right wing. 

The position of Cheatham's division in the Confederate line brought 
Vaughn's brigade upon General Sill's brigade. Up and down the line 
rides the fearless commander of the brigade, encouraging the men, watch- 
ing every movement of the enemy ; but a bullet strikes him in the face, 
passes into his brain, and he falls dead upon the ground. Colonel Greu- 
sel takes his place, and the battle goes on. Fearfully it rages round the 
Thirty-sixth Illinois ; but the men from the prairies stand their ground till 



430 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

two hundred and thirty of their number are killed or wounded, Major 
Miller, commanding, among the number. 

Woodruff has given way on Sill's right, and Carlin, still farther to the 
right, stands alone ; but he can remain there no longer, for Cleburne and 
McCown are so far in his rear that he is in danger of being cut off. 

Loomis's Confederate brigade with exultant shouts comes on, but 
Iloughtaling's and Ilescock's guns send them into the cedars. 

A second Confederate brigade (Maningault's) comes to the assistance 
of Vaughn across a cotton-field. Men drop, but the lines close and move 
on with a steadiness and bravery which win the admiration of the Union 
men. The Eighty-eighth Illinois fired a volley that made terrible slaugh- 
ter. The Confederate line came to a stand-still. The Union line with a 
cheer rushed forward, and the Confederates fled to the woods, leaving the 
cotton-field tliickly strewn with killed and wounded. 

Nearly all the fighting has been in the cedar woods, but the ground 
occupied by Roberts's brigade* of Sheridan's division is along a road lead- 
ino: from the house of Mr. Hardin^ to the Wilkinson Pike. 

It is hard for the brave man who spiked the guns of the Confederate 
batteries at Island No. 10 to see the right wing crumbling piecemeal. He 
asks permission of Sheridan to charge bayonets. He has great faith in 
his men — the Twenty-second, Twenty-seventh, Forty-second, and Fifty- 
first Illinois. 

"Yes, give them the bayonet," is the I'esponse of Sheridan. 

The Eighty-eighth Illinois and Twenty-first Michigan are in his way, 
behind a fence. 

" Throw down the fence and let me pass orer you." 

The fence tumbles to the ground. 

" Don't fire a shot. Drive them with the ba^'onet." 

General Roberts rides along the line swinging his cap. The air is 
thick with bullets aimed at him, but he heeds them not. 

" Charge !" His voice rings out clear and distinct. With a hurrah 
the line of glittering steel sweeps on. The momentum of sucli a body of 
men is terrible. The Confederates fire, then flee across the fields to the 
shelter of the woods. 

But Sheridan cannot hold his ground. Cleburne and McCown are so 
far round that he must choose a new position, and the regiments and bat- 
teries fall back into the new alignment as steadily as on parade. 

General Cheatham has discovered that the Union men in front of him 
have the quality of staying; that to drive them he must attack with an 
overwhelming force. He masses his artillery, planting a battery of iSTa- 



FROM NASHVILLE TO STONE RIVER. 431 

poleon guns by tlie brick-kiln south of Mr. Harding's house. The Union 
batteries replj^ The artillery fire on the part of Cheatham is the prelude 
to a grand movement of Maninganlt's, Vaughn's, Maney's, and Wood's bri- 
gades, which advance through a dense cedar thicket, to be smitten with 
canister from double-shotted cannon and by a volley from Roberts's men. 
The Illinoisans hold their ground so stubbornly, and the artillery fire is 
so destructive, that the Confederates recoil. Cheatham called up Ander- 
son's brigade of Mississippians, and with this reinforcement again urged 
on the men. 

" The ground must be held !" shouted Sheridan, riding along the Union 
lines. The troops responded with a cheer. Sheridan rode to General 
Thomas and asked for help, but Thomas could not take a regiment from 
his own line without endangering it, as we shall see. Sheridan has fired 
away all his ammunition. Aides are riding over the field in the rear in 
search of the supply train, but cannot find it. Houghtaling and Hescock 
have fired nearly their last round. Since the beginning of the battle 
Houghtaling alone has fired nearly one thousand one hundred rounds. 
Most of his horses have been shot. 

Sheridan knows that a critical moment is at hand, for he sees Cheat- 
ham preparing to strike another blow. Through the thicket the Confed- 
erates come once more, charging upon Houghtaling's battery, which can 
make no reply. The pieces which have been so powerful for the Union 
are dumb. Houghtaling cannot make them speak at this critical moment 
— cannot even take them away, for his horses are mangled and helpless. 

Roberts sees that he must fall back. " Rally along the turnpike !" he 
shouts. " Give us ammunition !" is the cry as the troops fall back, fol- 
lowed by the Confederates. 

Back beyond the turnpike moves the line. Conspicuous above all 
other men is the commander of the brigade, riding through the storm, 
giving his orders as upon parade. Suddenly he reels and falls from his 
horse. Three bullets have struck him at once. 

" Boys, put me on my horse again." 

The soldiers raise him in their arms, but the brave heart ceases its 
beating. 

The Confederates are close upon them. They cannot carry the body 
to the rear ; they lay it beneath a tree, cover it quickly with brush, and 
leave it on the field, trusting that it may escape the notice of the Confed- 
erates, who strip the clothes from the Union dead. 

The fight is over Houghtaling's guns. Houghtaling is borne from the 
field wounded. Lieutenant Talliaferro is instantly killed. Nearly one- 



432 DRUM-BEAT OF- THE NATION. 

half of the Twenty-second and Forty-second and Twenty-seventh Illinois 
are killed and wounded. The gunners, unable to work their pieces, use 
their pistols and swords, until twenty-five are killed, wounded, and capt- 
ured. All in vain. The advancing host outnumber them, and with exult- 
ant yells seize the cannon. 

AYe have been seeing thus far what part the right wing took in the 
battle up to eleven o'clock. Johnson's and Davis's divisions have been 
doubled back by a superior flanking force ; Sheridan's has stood immova- 
ble till, out of ammunition and nearly surrounded, it is obliged to fall 
back. We are not to think that there is silence everywhere else. 

Let us go to another part of the field. It was past eight o'clock when 
the fugitives from Johnson's division, streaming across the Nashville Pike, 
revealed to Eosecrans the disaster that had come to McCook. We have 
seen Thomas sending Kousseau's division to form a line along the JSTasli- 
ville Pike, with Van Cleve's division forming beyond it, thus making a 
line of battle almost at right angles to the line as it was when the battle 
began. Then the troops faced mostly south-east. I^egley's division still 
faces in that direction, while Rousseau, Van Cleve, and Wood face north- 
west. Towards this new line the drift of the right wing is setting. 

Following, now, the wake of the advancing Confederates, we see that 
McCown and Cleburne have made a long march. At daylight they faced 
west. Their movement has been a half-wheel — facing north-east and now 
south. AVhen they started, McCown was on the extreme left, but he 
lialted to supply his men with ammunition, and Cleburne moved out upon 
the left, thus exchanging places. 

The Confederate cavalry charged upon the wagon-trains on the Nash- 
ville Pike. Some of the teamsters fled to the woods, others stood trans- 
fixed with astonishment. The squadron of cavalry guarding the train sur- 
rendered, and the Confederates turned the train away. 

Down the pike went the men of Fyffe's brigade of Yan Cleve's divis- 
ion, the Seventh Indiana battery horses upon the gallop. Captain Swal- 
low, commanding it, wheeled into position and sent his shells into the 
Confederate battalions. The Fourth United States Cavalry was General 
Kosecrans's escort, but General Rosecrans was everywhere over the field, 
and the escort, under Captain Otis, charged upon the Confederates, put- 
ting them to flight and recapturing the train. 

The Confederates under Polk advanced upon Negley's division of 
Thomas's corps, Stewart's and Anderson's brigades falling upon Stanley's 
Union brigade. The shock is resolutelv met, but the left wing of the Con- 
federates is closing around Stanley, and he in turn is obliged to fall back. 



FROM NASHVILLE TO STONE RIVER. 433 

It is no certain evidence of cowardice for troops to retreat, for a retreat 
is at times the highest possible generalship. From the first giving way of 
the line it was wisdom for the brigades to do what they did — fight stub- 
bornly, and retreat when the ground was no longer tenable. 

It was nine o'clock when Chalmers's division of Confederates advanced 
upon Cruff s brigade of Palmer's division, stationed west of the l!^ashville 
Pike and to the left of Negley's. Cruft's skirmishers fell back, contesting 
every inch of ground. On came the Confederates with exultant shouts, 
but the advancing line came to a stand-still before the volleys of the First 
and Second Kentucky, the Thirty-first Indiana, and Nineteenth Ohio. 
Every effort of the Confederates to drive them was foiled, till the troops 
on the right retired. 

Standardt's Battery B, First Ohio, had but three rounds to each piece 
left when the brigade, to save itself from capture, was obliged to retire. 
The battery horses were nearly all disabled. 

" Save the guns !" The cry came from the Second Kentucky and 
[Nineteenth Ohio, who dragged the cannon to the rear. 

It is eleven o'clock. The battle has raged since daylight. The Union 
line has been swung back as you would swing a door. Every division of 
Union troops, except Palmer's, of Thomas's Corps, and Hazen's brigade, of 
Crittenden's corps, has been compelled to fall back. General Thomas J. 
Wood's division, w^hich has held the ground between the railroad and the 
river, has been withdrawn and sent to the right, and Hazen holds the left 
of the line on the railroad. From the Confederates by Cowan's house, 
from the woods and fields in front, comes a terrific storm upon this one 
brigade, but, like a lone rock in the ocean breasting the billows, it stands 
there through the long struggle, never yielding an inch of ground from 
the beginning to the close of the battle. The position was the pivotal 
point of the Union line, and through the obstinacy and endurance of this 
brigade Rosecrans was able to reform and rearrange the other troops and 
continue the struggle. 

In war there are narrow margins ; there are only hair-breadths between 
victory and defeat. At eleven o'clock in the forenoon of December 31, 
1862, if we could have looked down upon the battle of Stone River, we 
should have seen the cause of the Union trembling in the scale, with vic- 
tory seemingly settling upon the banners of the Confederacy. General 
Bragg had driven the Union right wing, changed the front of battle, sent 
thousands of Union troops fleeing through the woods, captured more than 
twenty cannon ; but there was one thing he had not accomplished — he had 
not conquered the indomitable wills of Generals Rosecrans, Thomas, Sheri- 
28 



434 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

dan, and thousands of men whose names never will be known to fame, but 
who were ready to lay down their lives for their country. It is the reso- 
lute determination of human wills that must be taken into account in bat- 
tle — wills that know no defeat. 

General Hosecrans formed his new line facing south-west. He directed 
General Thomas to place Rousseau's division in rear of Sheridan. He 
sent Loomis's and Gunther's batteries to a commanding knoll west of the 
railroad, and ordered Van Cleve's division to form on the right of Kous- 
seau, to meet McCowu's and Cleburne's divisions, which were coming 
round to seize the Nashville Turnpike. 

Rousseau formed his line with the brigade of Regulars on the left, 
then John Beatty's brigade, with Scribner's in reserve. (We are not to 
confound John Beatty's brigade with that commanded by Samuel Beatty 
in Van Cleve's division.) 

They are in an open field. In front is a cedar thicket, through which 
the Confederates are advancing. 

" Forward and meet them !" is Rousseau's order to Colonel Shepard, 
commanding the Regulars. The Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Eighteenth, and 
Nineteenth regiments of United States troops enter the cedars and come 
face to face with Rains's Confederate brigade, which began the battle 
by routing Williclrs brigade. The Confederates are flushed with success. 
They greet the Regulars with a yell, and the battle of the new line be- 
gins. The Regulars make a brave fight, but are forced to fall back, and 
the Confederates follow. 

Their line of advance brings them in the rear of Gi'ose's brigade of 
Palmer's division of the left wing, supporting Hazen's brigade. Palmer 
sees the cloud of Confederates coming down on his flank and rear. 

" Change front !" he shouts, and the brigade wheels upon the double- 
quick. 

The whole of McCown's line is advancing. Eighteen cannon on the 
knoll open with canister, and the Confederates are hurled back into the 
woods. A bullet has pierced the heart of General Rains. It is the first 
check which the hitherto victorious Confederate left wing has experienced. 

The Confederates, commanded by McNair, with a yell advance upon 
Van Cleve. Rosecrans has ridden along the line and selected a place for 
Stokes's battery, placing it on a knoll a few rods west of the railroad, with 
the Pioneer Corps, composed of companies selected from several regi- 
ments — men who can build bridges, and who use axes and spades. Near 
the cannon is Samuel Beatty's brigade, and beyond are Fyffe's and Har- 
ker's brigades. 




'-^j^ aiaii 



FROM NASHVILLE TO STONE EIVER. 437 

The Confederates come into the open field and rush upon the batteries, 
but are instantly overwhelmed. The Thirteenth Arkansas is all but an- 
nihilated. Ector's brigade of Texas troops is cut to pieces by the fire of 
Stokes's and Stevens's cannon. 

Cleburne brings up all of his brigades, together with Vaughan's bri- 
gade of Cheatham's division. Bragg is still adhei'ing to his plan of the 
morning, to make his left wing the sledge-hammer. 

General Rosecrans is cheering the men by his presence. He under- 
stands Bragg's tactics. Samuel Beatty has formed his line, with the 
Ninth Kentucky and Nineteenth Ohio in front, and the Eleventh Ken- 
tucky and Seventy-ninth Indiana in rear. The front line holds its ground, 
delivering a destructive fire. The second line bides its time. It comes. 
With a hurrah the troops spring to their feet, rush upon the enemy, and 
drive them in confusion. The remainder of Cleburne's division fall with 
tremendous force upon Fyffe and Harker, who are outflanked and driven. 
In the retreat two guns of Bradley's battery are lost. It is a critical mo- 
ment. Yan Cleve is wounded ; the line is broken. In a few moments 
the Confederates will be in possession of the turnpike. All of Rosecrans's 
trains will be exposed to capture. McCook and Rosecrans are riding up 
and down the lines endeavoring to rally the men. 

You have already read of the stubborn fight made by Roberts's bri- 
gade — how their brave commander fell. His body is under the brush-heap 
out yonder, in possession of the Confederates. Two of the regiments — 
the Twenty-seventh and Fifty -first Illinois — are on their way to the rear 
to obtain ammunition. General Rosecrans sees them. 

" Who commands these troops ?" he asks. 

" I do," said Colonel Bradley. 

" Go into that thicket and stop the enemy. Quick — don't lose a mo- 
ment !" 

" I have not much ammunition, but we will drive them with the bay- 
onet," is the reply. 

The men load their guns. 

" Left face ; forward !" 

The two regiments move on and meet the advancing foe. 

" Halt ! Aim ! Fire !" A sheet of flame bursts from the line. "Charge 
bayonets !" A glittering line of steel, of men in blue, comes out from the 
murky cloud upon the Confederates, who flee in consternation before the 
impetuous attack. 

The consternation runs along the whole Confederate line. 

" Our flank is turned !" is the cry of the panic-stricken troops. Polk's, 



438 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Jolinson's, and Liddell's brigades cimmble in an instant, the men breaking 
ranks. The otficers try to rally them, but all in vain. They flee through 
the woods, so demoralized and scattered that they cannot be rallied. It is 
a harvest-time for the men from Illinois. They gather up more than two 
hundred prisoners, and recapture the two cannon left behind by Harker 
in his retreat. 

With that impetuous charge the tide of battle has turned. Bragg will 
not gain the turnpike or capture the ammunition of the Union army, 
nor its beef and bread. Xot now will he see the Union troops fleeing 
towards Nashville or wandering like sheep along the country roads to be 
picked up by his cavalry ; nor will he move northward once more to re- 
fit his army in Kentucky or redeem that State from the rule of Abraham 
Lincoln. 

That panic in his lines, so unaccountable to the Confederate officers, 
is like a cold wintry blast, chilling the ardor of the troops. 

General Thomas has consolidated his brigades. They are as orderly 
and well arranged as a class under the eye of a school - master. Rose- 
crans rides along the line. " You must hold the position at all hazards," 
he says. 

" We will," is the response. 

You have seen a pier in a stream with the water swirling around it. 
Such a breakwater is General Thomas's corps, and against which a raft of 
Confederate brigades is hurled by Bragg. 

Rosecrans at last had his army concentrated ; the front line was 
strengthened by the troops which had fought till their ammunition was 
gone, and now, with a new supply, stoody ready to resjDond to any call. 

Hazen occupied a copse which has received the name of the Bound 
Forest, behind which stood Sheridan's division. 

General Rosecrans saw a body of Confederate troo^DS moving west. It 
was General Adams's brigade of Breckinridge's division, ordered across the 
river by Bragg, who was vexed to find that his onward movement had 
been checked. 

" Where shall I go in ?" was Adams's question to Major-general Polk. 

"Attack them and take that battery," was the reply of Polk, who 
pointed towards Hazen's line. 

All day long Adams's troops had heard the uproar of battle, and now, 
as the sun was descending, they were to break the Union centre, double it 
back, and reap the honors of victory. It is a magnificent advance, but 
the lines are cut through by shot and shell — by a deadly fire of musketry. 

The Fifteenth and Fifty-seventh Indiana rush forward, gather up two 



FROM NASHVILLE TO STONE EIVER. 



439 



hundred prisoners and bring them in, with a luirrah going up from the 
L^nion line. 

" Come over with Preston's and Palmer's brigades," was Bragg's order 
to Breckinridge. 

Again Rosecrans saw the Confederates filing westward. 

Bragg brought up his batteries and placed them in position. He sent 
word to Breckinridge's batteries across the river to open fire at long range, 
and solid shot and shell were poured upon the Union line. 

Rosecrans was riding through the storm, paying no heed to the en- 
treaty of his officers to take a less exposed position. His faithful chief 
of staff, Garesche, was instantly killed — his head severed from his body 
by a cannon-ball. 

Under cover of the artillery fire the 
Confederates once more advanced, but it 
was a feeble attack, and the unwelcome 
truth came to Bragg that his troops had 
lost their aggressive force, while officers 
and men alike along the Union lines felt 
that the tide had turned ; that no matter 
wliat Bragg might attempt, he could not 
move them from their chosen position. 
The sun goes down, the cannons' lips 
grow cold, the uproar dies away. In the 
closing hours of the year the hospital 
corps gather up the wounded. 

" Renew the ammunition," was the 
first order of Rosecrans. His officers came to his headquarters — in a 
little log-cabin. 

" What shall we do ?" he asked. 

The officers were divided in opinion, but all said, "We will stand by 
you, whatever you desire to do." 

'" I will examine the ground. General Stanley, you will accompany 
me." 

General Rosecrans looked over the ground. 

" We will fight it out where we are," he said. 

" Send what you can of the wounded to Nashville," was the order to 
the surgeon-general, and a long train of ambulances filled with wounded 
moved down the pike. Tlie Confederates could hear the rumbling of the 
wheels, and thought that Rosecrans was retreating. Great was their sur- 
prise in the morning to see the Union lines firm and compact, with breast- 




CLOSE OF THE BATTLE. 



440 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

works thrown up. Rosecrans supposed that Bragg would renew the at- 
tack with great vigor, while Bragg could not understand why Rosecrans, 
who had been whipped, did not retreat. 

During the day there was cannonading, but not much fighting. 

" Find the best position on the east side of the river from M'hich jou 
can enfilade the Union lines west of it," was Bragg's order to Captain 
Robertson, his chief of artillery, who reported that it was the ground held 
by the Union soldiers of Van Cleve's division. 

" It is a very important point, for it commands General Polk's line. 
If you can take it you can mass your artillery there and compel Rosecrans 
to retreat," said Robertson. 

Bragg resolved to drive out Yan Cleve. He sent Robertson's own 
battery of six twelve-pounder Napoleon guns, TemjDle's battery, and two 
thousand cavah-y to reinforce Breckinridge. As soon as the hill was 
taken, Robertson was to rain his shells upon the Union lines west of the 
river. 

The afternoon of January 2d is wearing away. Breckinridge is try- 
ing to persuade Bragg not to attack. 

" The Union artillery will sweep the field, and my troops will be cut to 
pieces," he said. 

Bragg will not abandon his plan ; the attack must be made. Breckin- 
ridge rides across the river to order the advance. He meets General Pres- 
ton, and says, " This attack is against my judgment. I shall do my duty in 
obeying the order. If it ends in disaster, and if I am slain, I want you to 
tell the people that the attack was unwise and that I tried to prevent it." 

The Union troops nearest the river on the east side were those of 
Price's brigade, with Livingston's Third Wisconsin battery. Kext in line 
was Grider's, Fyffe's, and Grose's brigades. 

We are to remember that the river is a small stream with a rocky bed, 
and easily forded. On the west bank is Ilascall's division. The stream is 
so narrow that the right of Breckinridge's line will be within musket-range 
of Hascall as it advances. Between the railroad and the river, along the 
line occupied by Hascall's troops, is a ridge as high as that on the east 
side, from which Van Cleve is to be driven. 

The Confederate brigade nearest the river is Hanson's ; then Palmer's, 
formino; the front line. Five hundi'ed feet in rear are Adams's and Pres- 
ton's brigades ; in the third line are Wright's and Vaughan's. Out on 
the right is the cavalry, which will dash upon the Union troops as soon as 
they are put to rout. 

Four o'clock. The sun is near its setting, and whatever is done must 



FROM NASHVILLE TO STONE RIVER. 



441 



be done qnicldj. Suddenly the Confederate cannon, massed on the west 
side of tlie river, begin to flash. General Rosecrans believes that the move- 
ment on the east side is to be a feint, while Bragg intends to move once 
more against the centre. Five minutes later he sees that the massed col- 
umns of Breckinridge are advancing in earnest. They move with loaded 
muskets and fixed bayonets. 
Livingston's guns open upon 
them, but the Confederates 
move on, heedless of shell and 
canister. The Fifty-first Ohio 
and Eighth Kentuck}' open tire 
upon them. 

The onset is so vigorous 
that Price's brigade is driven. 




GENERAL BRECKINllIDGE. 



The Nineteenth Ohio rushes 
to their relief, also the Ninth 
and Eleventh Kentucky, hold- 
ing the Confederates in check 
a short time. 

Let us stand for a moment 
on the ridge west of the river. 
Captain Mendenhall, Critten- 
den's chief of artillery, is there 
when Breckinridge's line be- 
gins its advance. 

" This is the place for the artillery. Send all the batteries here," is 
the order. 

Aides ride in haste. The drivers lash their horses to a run, and the 
cannon go rumbling up the hill. In a few minutes tifty-eight pieces are 
in position. 

Tlie artillerymen look down upon the scene. They see Price's and 
Grider's men falling back, and the Confederates rushing on with exultant 
yells. Suddenly the hill bursts into flame ; the shells go tearing through 
the Confederate ranks. Negley's men rise from behind the liiil where 
they have been biding their time, Miller's, Grose's, and Fyffe's brigades 
delivering their volleys. No body of men, however brave, can advance 
through such a storm. Cut through and through by the terrible artillery 
fire, the Confederates bi-eak and flee, hastening to get beyond the reach 
of the cannon. The Union troops follow and capture three guns. 

The sun has set, and with its going down there is a great sinking of 



442 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

heart in tlie Confederate army. The troops are demoralized. In this 
attack nearly one thousand four hundred liave been killed or wounded. 
Bragg has struck his last blow and been defeated. What Breckinridge 
feared has come to pass. 

Tlie night is dark, the clouds lowering.* A cold rain sets in, the river 
begins to rise, and Rosecrans withdraws his troops from the east side, con- 
centrating his army, 

Tlie Confederate generals are disheartened. At midnight they hold a 
consultation. Cheatham and Withers send a note to Bragg informing him 
that their troops are in a deplorable condition, and advise him to retreat. 

" We shall maintain our position at every hazard," said Bragg, who was 
very angry and vexed over the failure of all his plans. Though he was so 
resolute, his army had lost heart. The troops expected victory. At eleven 
o'clock in the morning of the last day of the year they thought they had 
won it ; but the Union troops, instead of fleeing back to ^Nashville, were 
more defiant than ever. 

At eleven o'clock on the night of January 3d the Confederate army 
began its retreat. Long before daybreak it was miles away on the road 
to Tullahoraa. When the sun rose not a Confederate was to be seen. 
With hurrahs the troops received the news. The killed and wounded in 
each army numbered between ten and eleven thousand men. Rosecrans 
had lost between twenty and thirty cannon, but he had won a victory 
which was of incalculable value to the country. 



ON THE MISSISSIPPI. 443 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

ON THE MISSISSIPPI. 

T"^HEE,E are so many turnings and windings of the Mississippi that the 
J- distance from jS^ew Orleans by river to Memphis is eight hundred 
miles, while in a direct line it is only four hundred. The bottom-lands 
below the last-named city are very wide, but two miles above Yicksburg 
the bluffs form the eastern bank of the river, and are two hundred and 
sixty feet high — not perpendicular, but very steep. Below Vicksburg 
they are not so high. From Cairo to iS^ew Orleans there is no other place 
so strong by nature. 

The Confederates erected batteries there soon after the war began. 
In June, 1863, they had twenty-six cannon in position — some on the 
top of the bluffs to pour a fire down upon the Union gunboats, others 
but a few feet above the water, to send rifled shot into the sides of the 
vessels. 

The river makes a very sharp bend just above Vicksburg, running 
north-east five miles, then turning suddenly south and south-west. The 
tongue of land is six miles long, but hardly a mile wide. The cannon on 
the bluffs could sweep it with their fire. 

In April, 1862, Admiral Farragut ran past the forts below Xew Or- 
leans with the war -ships and captured that city. In June he steamed 
up the river to bombard Yicksburg. The people living along the river 
were greatly astonished when they saw the great sea -going vessels, with 
masts and spars and rigging, moving up stream. 

It was two o'clock in the morning, June 2Sth, when the vessels steamed 
towards the batteries. The vessels advanced in two columns. The Con- 
federate cannon opened fire, and the ships replied. Slowly steamed the 
fleet, the sides of the vessels all aflame, pouring shot and shell upon the 
batteries at the foot of the bluffs. At six o'clock in the evening they 
dropped anchor in the bend above the city. 

" The batteries have been passed, and they can be passed again as often 
as necessary," said the admiral. 



444 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Fifteen sailors had been killed and tliirtj wounded, most of them be- 
ing on the gunboat Clifton. A shot passed throngh the boiler, and the 
men were scalded by the steam. 

On Julj 1st the fleet of Commodore Davis — the gunboats which had 
destroyed the Confederate fleet at Memphis — joined Admiral Farragut 
just below the mouth of the Yazoo River. 

For man}' months such mechanics as the Confederates could find had 
been at work up the Yazoo building an iron-clad vessel — the Arkansas, 
which M-as one hundred and eighty feet long, thirty wide, with a long iron 
beak under water, designed for running into the hulls of the Union gun- 
boats. Its sides were stout oaken timber. Outside the timber was a 
plating of railroad iron. Inside were compressed bales of cotton, with 
a sheathing of wood to prevent the latter from taking fire. The iron, 
oak, and cotton made the sides so strong that cannon-balls had little 
effect upon it. You might as well throw peas at an iron pot. There 
were ten cannon — two at the bow, two at the stern, the others on the 
sides. 

We are to remember that the war was between two systems of labor ; 
that it was a revolt of the slave-holders against free labor ; that in the 
North there were many mills, factories, and machine - shops ; that the 
South had few mills or machine-shops, and very little skilled labor. Men 
who invented machinery, and who knew how to run engines or file iron, 
were not found in the slave-holding States. It did not require much skill 
to hew a stick of timber or to bolt the railroad iron upon the oaken sides 
of the Arkansas, but it was not so easy to build the engines. The men 
who undertook it had few tools ; they did not know how to do it. Thus 
it was the engines of the steamboats were poor and constantly breaking 
down. 

The Arkansas was commanded by Isaac N. Brown, who was educated 
by the United States Government, was an officer in the Navy when the 
war began, but who joined the Confederates. 

The Union commanders knew that the Arkansas was getting ready 
to attack the Union fleet. Commodore Davis directed Commander Walke 
to go up the Yazoo in the iron-plated Carondelet, with the wooden gun- 
boat Tyler and the Queen of the West (the ram) to reconnoitre. The Ar- 
kansas was moving down stream. Captain Walke thought it best to turn 
the head of the gunboat in the same direction. He made a mistake, for 
the stern of the Carondelet was not protected with iron ; besides, his stern- 
guns were only thirty- two -pounders, while one of the bow-guns was a 
seventy-pounder and the other a fifty-pounder. 



ON THE MISSISSIPPI. 445 

The Arkansas came alongside, and the fight began. The vessels were 
very near to each other, and the broadside-guns flashed muzzle to muzzle. 
A shot crashes into the Carondelet, killing and wounding ten of the crew. 
In turn, a shot goes into the pilot-house of the Arkansas, killing one of 
her pilots, wounding another, also Captain Brown. The broadsides of the 
Carondelet were so tremendous that when the shot struck the iron plating 
of the ArJcaiisas they opened the seams between the timbers, letting in 
the water. They riddled the smoke-stack so that there was little draft in 
the furnaces. 

All the time the Tyler was raining its solid shot upon the Arkansas, 
receiving shot in return, which made great rents in her sides, killing and 
wounding the men. 

Down the river steamed the vessels into the Mississippi, the Arkan- 
sas running through Commodore Davis's fleet. The cannon opened fire, 
but the balls rolled from her iron sides as hailstones from a building. 

Before the gunboats could get up steam and raise their anchors to 
grapple with the Arkansas, she was out of range and under the protection 
of the guns on the bluffs. 

Admiral Farragut and Commodore Davis were greatly chagrined. 
They determined that when night came they would destroy her. The 
fleet advances — the ships, gunboats, and batteries flash and flame. The 
Arkansas shifts her position, and in the darkness and haze and smoke 
the Union vessels, one by one, pass by and thus miss her. 

On the night of July 22d we see the Essex, under Cajjtain Porter, 
with the Queen of the West, gliding down towards Yicksburg. The Ben- 
ton, Cincinnati, and Louisville accompany them far enough to send their 
shells into the Confederate works. The Essex, paying no attention to the 
batteries, steers for the A?'ka7isas, running by so close that you might leap 
from one vessel to the other. The gunners of the Essex send three shot, 
nine inches in diameter, into the Arkansas, killing or wounding thirteen 
of her crew. The Qaeen of the West came at full speed and rammed her 
prow against the Arkansas, giving her a great blow. All the while the 
batteries were raining solid shot upon the two Union A^essels ; but the 
Queen of the West made her way unharmed back to Commodore Davis's 
fleet, while the Essex joined Admiral Farragut. 

The water was rapidly falling, and Admiral Farragut was obliged to 
go down to New Orleans with his fleet. The troops under General 
"Williams landed at Baton Rouge, and Captain Porter, with the Essex, 
dropped anchor above the town, keeping a sharp lookout for the Ar- 
kansas. 



44G DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Baton Rouge was the capital of Louisiana. The troops which had 
taken possession of the town were the Fourteenth Maine, Sixth Michigan, 
Seventli Vermont, Twenty-first Indiana, Thirtieth Massachusetts, Fourth 
AA'isconsin, the Second, Fourth, and Sixth Massachusetts batteries — about 
two thousand men. 

General Breckinridge, commanding tlie Confederate troops in Mis- 
sissippi, planned an attack. The Arkansas^ which had made so brave a 
fight at Yicksburg, was to descend the river and sink the Essex and other 
gunboats — the Sumter^ Cayuga^ Kineo, Katahdin — all of them small ves- 
sels, while he, with a force much larger than that of General Williams, 
would sweep the Union troops into the river. 

" The Confederates are coming I" was the word brought to General 
Williams by the negroes, who placed his troops in line of battle. 

The Twenty-first Indiana was on picket duty outside the town. A 
dense fog settled down upon the Mississippi and all the surrounding coun- 
try, but through the night the soldiers stood with ears open to catch the 
faintest sound from the expected enemy. If General Breckinridge thought 
to catch General Williams asleep and unprepared, he was mistaken. At 
half-past three the Union troo]3S were under arms. Many of the soldiers 
are on the sick-list. The malaria is in their blood ;■ they are burning up 
with fever. Day by day the hospitals are filling. The regiments have 
been sadly thinned since they left the North. 

General Breckinridge had six thousand men and thirteen cannon. The 
days are hot, and a number of liis soldiers have dropped by the roadside, 
reducing his army to about four tliousand. He has an understanding with 
Captain Brown, commanding the Arkansas, that the attack is to be made 
at daylight. If the Arkansas can destroy the gunboats — if the force un- 
der Williams can be swept away — the Confederates will have control of 
the river from New Orleans to Yicksburg, which will enable them to ob- 
tain supplies from the Arkansas River and open communication with 
Texas. 

On through the darkness and fog move the Confederates in three bri- 
gades, commanded by Ruggles, Allen, and Clarke. The Union pickets 
hear the tramping of advancing feet. Day is dawning when the Confed- 
erate skirmishers come upon the Twenty-first Indiana. The Union troops, 
who are eating breakfast, are ready in a moment, the firing bringing the 
soldiers everywhere to their feet. 

Yery soon after the battle began, General Williams, who was riding 
along the line, fell mortally wounded, and Colonel Cahill took command. 

The Confederates began the attack with great vigor. On the right of 



ON THE MISSISSIPPI. 



447 



the Union line were the Sixth Micliigan and Ninis's Massachusetts bat- 
tery ; on the left, the Fourteenth Maine and Everett's battery. The at- 
tack was north and east of the town. The Union soldiers on the left 
were in an open field ; the Confederates were partially sheltered by woods. 
From daylight till ten o'clock the contest went on. There was first a 
scattering lire, then quick, heavy volleys, the artillery firing canister and 
making havoc in the lines ; then there comes a lull for a few moments, and 
then the volleys begin again. Gradually the Union troops fall back, dis- 
puting every inch of ground. The Confederates get possession of a por- 
tion of the Union camp. They leave the ranks to secure the plunder, and 
then set the tents on fire. 




BATTLE OP BATON ROUGE. 



They rush upon Nims's battery and capture two of the cannon, wheel 
them round, load them, and open lire upon the Sixth Michigan. A Con- 
federate officer waves a tiag in triumph, and the Confederate battle-cry 
rings out amid the uproar ; but Captain Nims's other guns are sweeping 
them down, and the Sixth Michigan charge and recapture the cannon, 
handing them over to Captain Nims, who has his own once more. 

The Twenty - first Indiana holds its ground stubbornly, refusing to 
yield. The gunboats send their shells along the flanks of the Confederate 
troops. The Arkansas has not made her appearance. The Confederate 
troops lose heart. A great many of their officers have fallen, and nearly 
five hundred men have been killed or wounded. At ten o'clock the 



448 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 




GUNBOATS AT THE BATTLE OF BATON KOUGE. 

battle is over, the Confederates retreating, leaving the ground strewn witli 
dead. 

As the Arl'a7isas had not come down, Captain Porter, in the Essex^ 
with the gunboats, the next morning went up the river in search of her. 
One of her engines liad broken down the day before, and the engineers 
had been hammering all night to make it work. 

" "VVe cannot fight," said the Confederate commander ; " set the vessel 
on fire." 

Solid shot and shell crashed against her sides. The men leaped ashore. 
Up from the vessel rolled a great column of smoke from the burning cot- 
ton. Down the Mississippi floated the Arkansas, in flames, till the fire 
reached the magazine ; then came an explosion, a raining down of burning 
timbers, pieces of railroad iron, cannon, solid shot, and shells. 

Tims the vessel wdiich the Confederates fondly hoped would drive 
the Union fleet from the Mississippi disappeared. It had failed because 
the Confederacy had no men who could file and hammer and make en- 
gines. Slavery kept men in ignorance ; freedom educated them. That 
was the difference. 



The order issued by the War Department October 24, 1862, appoint- 
ed General Grant commander of the Department of the Mississippi. He 
had foi'ty-eight thousand men in his department. Several thousand were 



ON THE MISSISSIPPI. 



449 



needed to protect the railroad over wliicli lie received liis supplies. There 
was so much going on in Virginia and Kentneky that the War Depart- 
ment had not time to give much attention to affairs in the West, and 
Grant was therefore left to do his own planning. 

The next work to be done was the takino; of Vicksbure;. The irreat 
question was how to accomplish it. . The Confederates were making it 
stronger every dny — planting more cannon, building intrenchments, and 
resolving to hold it at all hazards. Were the Union troops to capture that 
stronghold, the States of Arkansas, Texas,, and Louisiana would be severed 
from the remainder of the Confederacy. It would be a crushing blow. 

Yon remember the battle of Pea Ridge, in north-western Arkansas — 
the defeat of the Confederates under Van Dorn. After that battle there 
was no Confederate force to oppose General Curtis. 

We have seen how the troops under Van Dorn were hastened to Cor- 
inth, where they were defeated by Rosecrans, General Curtis, therefore, 
marched east to capture Little Rock, but his provisions failed. lie had 
to put the troops on half -rations and hasten towards the Mississippi. 




DESTRUCTION OF THE "AKKANSAS." 



He reached it at Helena, below Memphis, where the steamboats supplied 
him with food. The Union troops were widely scatterecl. Four thou- 
sand were at Columbus in Kentucky, whence Grant received liis sup- 
plies. He was obliged to station bodies of soldiers at every bridge. 
29 



450 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 




FROM .MEMPHIS TO VICKSBURG. 



General Sherman was 
in Mempliis witli a por- 
tion of the troops ; bnt 
most of the armj was 
near Grand Junction, 
fifty miles east of Mem- 
phis and forty west of 
Corinth. Twenty -five 
miles sontli of Grand 
Junction is Holly 
Springs, on the railroad 
leading to New Or- 
leans. Going south 
from Holly Springs we 
come to the Tallahatchie River, which runs south-east to the Yazoo, which 
empties into the Mississippi twelve miles above Memphis. It winds 
through the broad bottom-lands east of tlie Mississippi. The bluffs are 
fifty miles east of the river opposite Helena. The railroad is on the 
table-land still farther east. There are no towns in the bottom-lands — 
only plantations — -but along the railroad are Abbeville, Grenada, and 
other places. 

After the defeat of Van Dorn at Corinth, Jeiferson Davis appointed 
General Pemberton to command the Confederate army. He was at Jack- 
son, the capital of Mississippi. Yan Dorn was in command of the troops 
along the Tallahatchie. He had twenty-four thousand men ; there were 
six thousand at Yicksburg, nearly six thousand more at Port Hudson, 
with other troops, giving Pemberton in all forty thousand. 

General Grant saw that a movement from Grand Junction along the 
railroad would bring the army in rear of Yicksburg, which would compel 



ON THE MISSISSIPPI. 451 

the Confederates to evacuate that phiee. He moved south along the rail- 
road. General Sherman advanced from Memphis November 24, 1862. 
General Hovej, with a portion of the troops at Helena, crossed the Mis- 
sissippi and marched east, all tliree detachments moving towards Van 
Dorn, who retreated from the Tallahatchie southward, and took up a 
new position behind the Yallabusha River, another branch of the Yazoo. 

General Grant reached Oxford, sixty miles south of Grand Junction. 
General Sherman was near him, at College Hill. They were one hundred 
and eighty miles from their base of supplies. All their flour and beef 
must be brought from Columbus over a single track. There were so few 
locomotives on the railroad that they could not do the required work. 
General Grant asked for more engines, but the War Department for some 
reason did not supply them. Foraging parties visited the plantations and 
brought in cows, calves, and sheep. Grant saw that if he M'ent much 
farther he would not be able to feed the army, and decided to change 
his plan — to send General Sherman back to Memphis, put his troops on 
steamboats, hasten down the river, ascend the Yazoo a short distance, and 
attack Yicksburg in the rear, while he with the rest of the army would 
march from Oxford and join him. When united it Avould be a powerful 
army, which would receive its supplies by the river. 

The Confederate Government in liichmond saw the great danger 
which threatened the Confederacy, and President Davis hastened west, 
taking General Joseph E. Johnston with him, and appointing him com- 
mander of all the troops between the Mississippi and the Alleghanies. 
He visited Jackson and Vicksburg, and was cheered by the Confederate 
troops. Conscripts were coming by thousands, gathered in by the con- 
script officers. 

We come to December 11. General Bragg is at Murfreesboro' ; Rose- 
crans at Nashville, laying his plans. Bragg has nearly ten thousand 
cavalry. He sees a grand opportunity to cripple General Grant by de- 
stroying the railroad over which he receives his supplies, and sends Gen- 
eral Forrest to do the work. On the morning of the 11th Forrest leaves 
Columbia, Tennessee, south of Nashville, moving west. 

The Union scouts bring word to Rosecrans, who before night sends 
this despatch to General Grant : " Tell the commanders along the road to 
look out for Forrest. " 

General Forrest crossed the Tennessee at Clifton on - an old flat-boat, 
swimming his horses. He had two thousand five hundred men. Twenty 
miles west of the river he came upon Colonel R. G. Ingersoll, connnand- 
ing seven hundred Union cavalry. Ingersoll and more than two hundred 



452 



DKUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 




FORAGING PARTIES. 



of his men were captured, tlie rest put to flight. Forrest had a skinnish 
with two regiments near Jackson. But he had not come to fight. He 
turns north, reaches the raih-oad, burns bridges, tears up tlie track, mov- 
ing north to the Kentucky line, then turning south once more towards 
Lexington. 

At Parkers Cross-roads, not far from Lexington, Tennessee, he is con- 
fronted by General Sullivan, sent by General Grant with two brigades 
to cut off his retreat. Forrest begins a battle, but is put to rout with a 
loss of six; guns, three hundred men, and several wagons. He had done 
great damage — destroyed sixty miles of the railroad and killed, wounded, 
?,nd captured nearly two thousand Union troops. 

Grant was to receive a more disastrous blow. Van Dorn had three 
thousand five hundred cavalry. Lie knew that Grant's supplies were 
at Holly Springs, where there was a brigade under General Murphy. 
The Union cavalry was forty miles away, destroying the Mobile and Ohio 
Kailroad. IS^ow was his opportunity. Putting himself at the head of his 
cavalry he started from Grenada, and made a rapid march. 

" Be prepared for Confederate cavalry, and hold your position at all 
hazards," is the despatch sent by Grant to Murphy at Holly Springs, and 
to the commander at Grand Junction. 

Murphy has one thousand five hundred men guarding the supplies 
piled up in the depot and surrounding buildings. At daylight the next 



ON THE MISSISSIPPI. 453 

morning Yan Dorn is upon hiui ; and the cowardly Mnrphy, almost with- 
out firing a shot, surrenders his whole command. A few minutes later a 
cloud of black smoke darkens the sky. In an hour property worth one 
million five hundred thousand dollars is destroyed. 

Murphy was court-martialled, disgraced, and dismissed from the service 
as a coward. 

Van Dorn attacked a small body of Union troops at Davis's Mills and 
was repulsed. He advanced to Bolivar and was driven off by the brave 
men there. He was repulsed at Middleburg. All of which shows that 
Murphy might have defeated him, and saved the country from the disas- 
ter which upset Grant's plan and brought defeat to Sherman at Vicksburg, 
as we shall see. 

A great fleet of steamboats, Mith the divisions of Generals A. J.Smith, 
Morgan L. Smith, and George W. Morgan cast loose from Memphis and 
descended the Mississippi, to be joined at Helena by General Steele's di- 
vision, making an army of thirty-two thousand with sixty cannon. It was 
a magnificent sight. There were sixty -seven steamboats crowded with 
men, who clustered on the decks like bees upon a hive. 

Twenty miles above Vicksburg A. J. Smith's division landed on the 
west side of the river, marched south-west and reached the railroad over 
which the cars were bringing provisions to Vicksburg. The bridges were 
burned and the track destroyed. The steamboats went on to the mouth 
of the Yazoo, and sailed up that stream thirteen miles. The troops land- 
ed beneath the great cotton wood-trees on the bottom-lands. A. J. Smith, 
having destroyed the railroad, hastened on, and on December 2Tth the 
whole army was on shore. 

General Sherman knew very little about the ground before him, or the 
Confederate forts and rifle-pits. He only knew that the Walnut Hills, as 
the bluffs above Vicksburg are called, were lined with forts and rifle-pits 
and breastworks; that thousands of slaves had been employed upon the 
intrenchments ; that there were bayous, swamps, lakes, miry places, deep 
ravines, high hills, tangled thickets, and a Confederate army before him- 
He must feel his way. 

He hoped to descend the river so rapidly that the Confederates would 
be taken by surprise ; but before a soldier embarked at Memphis they 
knew all about the plan. Although Memphis had been captured, the 
people in that city were as much devoted to the Confederacy as ever. 
Along the river were detachments of cavalry, and as soon as the fleet 
started couriers rode with the news, so that the Confederates had full 
information of the movement. The troops which had been confronting 



454 



DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 



Grant along the line of tlie railroad were hurried west, and placed behind 
the intrenchraents. Instead of six thousand, the Confederates numbered 
twelve thousand. 

The bluffs were fully two hundred feet high, and the Union artil- 
lery might just as well have been left at Memphis. 




*•*»*** 



<^t«OA H. B. 



THE CHICKASAW BAYOU. 



General Sherman knew nothing of what had happened at Holly 
Springs. He expected to hear the thunder of Grant's guns in the rear 
of Vicksburg; he did not know that Grant, instead of advancing to join 
him, was falling back to Grand Junction because of the pusillanimous sur- 
render of Murphy. 

General A. J Smith's division was on the right, then Morgan L. 
Smith's, then G, W. Morgan's, and lastly General Steele's on the left. 
Morgan w^as to make the attack, supported by Steele, while the other 
two divisions were to make a demonstration only. 

The engineers reconnoitred the ground. They found the bayou, 
which was from fifty to one hundred feet wide, passable only at two 
points — one a sand-bar, the other an old and narrow levee. 

At daylight December 2Sth the troops advanced. They soon came 



ON THE MISSISSIPPI. 455 

upon the Confederate pickets in the edge of the woods. The morning 
-was hazy, and tliey could see only a dense forest thick with tangled vines. 
The Confederates opened fire. The Sixteenth Ohio, Twenty-second Ken- 
tucky, Fifty-fourth Indiana, and Lamphere's battery replied. For more 
than an hour the soldiers fired into the dense thicket, but saw very few 
of the Confederates. 

General De Courcey deploys his brigade, and the troops drive the 
Confederates, who fled across the bayou. The brigade halted, and the en- 
gineers once more reconnoitred the grounvj. They saw that the trees on 
the other side of the stream had been slaslied, and that every approach 
was enfiladed by cannon. The soldiers bivouacked where they were, wait- 
ing till night, that the engineers might build a pontoon -bridge. The 
road along which they were to advance was an old path blocked with 
fallen trees. When morning came the engineers discovered that beyond 
the fallen trees was a second bayou, crossed by a log bridge. It was a 
half mile from the place Avhere the troops passed the night to the foot of 
the bluff. Every step of the way they would be exposed to the fire of 
the Confederates. Down on the right, Morgan L. Smith, very earl}' in the 
morning, was wounded, and the command devolved upon (leneral Stuart. 
The troops of the two divisions made a show of advancing, while De Cour- 
cey's and Blair's brigades were to make the real attack. The regiments 
of these bi'igades were formed in columns to cross the log bridge, the Six- 
teenth Ohio leading. Blair's brigade was on the left, ready to cross the 
first bayou. The signal is given, and the two columns emerge from the 
shelter of the woods. In an instant a tempest bursts upon them. Men 
fall by the score. Canister from the batteries sweeps them down. Six 
reffinients of Confederates, restine; their muskets on the breastworks and 
taking deliberate aim, cut them in pieces. On, almost up to the trenches, 
rashes the Sixteenth Ohio, till half the men are disabled. It can go no 
farther. The men see how hopeless the task before them, and turn back. 
The other regiments are in confusion, and the order to retire is given. In 
the few moments more than one thousand men have been killed, wounded, 
or are captured by the Confederates, who leap over their intrenchments 
and gather in those who cannot get away. 

Going down to the right, we see the Sixth Missouri leading the ad- 
vance along a levee so narrow that only two soldiers can stand abreast. 
The bluff rises high and steep above them. They throw themselves un- 
der the shelter of the bank, and wait for reinforcements ; but no other 
troops follow. They dig holes, scraping out the dirt with their hands, 
lying there till night, and then retreat. 



456 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

General Sherman, seeing how useless it would be to make a second at- 
tack, decided to send ten thousand men up the Yazoo to Haines's Bluff. 
The gunboats were to take part. Morning came, but the fog was thick, 
and the gunboats could not move. Rain was falling in torrents. It was 
seen that the river might suddenly rise, flood the lowlands, and drown 
the army. General Sherman consulted witli his officers, who advised the 
abandonment of the undertaking. 

A flag of truce went out, and the ambulances came back filled with the 
wounded. It was a sad, disheartening spectacle. The expedition was a 
failure, and nearly two thousand brave soldiers had been sacrificed. 

Up the Mississippi steamed the fleet to Milliken's Bend, where the sol- 
diers disembarked on the Arkansas shore, landing there January 2d, at the 
same hour that Breckinridge w^as being repulsed and the Union troops 
winning the victorv at Stone River. 



THE CLOSE Oi^ 1862. 451 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE CLOSE OF 1 8 6 2. 

THIS the way the people responded to the drum-beat. When Fort 
Sumter was fired upon, President Lmcohi called for seventy-five 
thousand militia, and ninety-one thousand volunteered for three months. 
In May and Jul}^ 1861, he called for half a million, and seven hundred 
thousand enlisted for three years. In July, 1862, when McClellan was 
pleading for more troops, President Lincoln called for three hundred thou- 
sand, and four hundred and twenty-one thousand left their farms and shops 
to become soldiers for three years ; and in August eighty-seven thousand 
enlisted for three months — more than thirteen Imndred thousand in all. 
They had been armed, equipped, uniformed, and were in the field. Free 
labor and an unquenchable patriotism had created an army which astonished 
the nations beyond the Atlantic. 

In the Confederate States at the outbreak of the war the drum-beat 
M'as also heard in every village. Yolunteers enlisted for a year. The con- 
spirators who had brought about the war believed it would not last longer 
than a twelvemonth. The first Congress which met at Eichmond w^as 
called a Provisional Congress. Jefferson Davis was inaugurated President 
February 22, 1862 — Washington's birthday. An army of four hundred 
thousand was authorized. It was believed that if the soldiers Avere allowed 
to go home and rest a few days that they would gladly re-enlist for the 
war, no matter how long it might last, and they were granted a furlough 
of sixty days. It was soon discovered, however, that many of the soldiers, 
when the sixty days had expired, did not return, and had no intention of 
doing so. They had no desire to endure the hardships and privations, 
the weary marches, to be killed or wounded in battle. The Confederate 
armies were rapidly diminishing. The enthusiasm which flamed through- 
out the seceded States at the beginning of the war had died out. The 
States had left the Union to protect their " rights," but the people now 
saw their rights and their freedom disappear as quickly as a straw in a 
furnace-fire, when, on April 16, 1862, the Congress at Richmond passed a 



458 DRUM-BEAT OF THE KATlON. 

law which withdrew every man between the ages of eighteen and thir- 
ty-five from State control, and placed him under the power of Jefferson 
Davis so long as the war shonld last. It set aside all agreements made b}' 
the several States with the soldiers. Those who had enlisted for twelve 
months were not to have the privilege of going home at the end of the 
year, but, just as fish are drawn into a net, they were all swept perma- 
nently into the Confederate army, to serve till the end of the war, unless 
relieved by death or disability. By this act all rights of States or indi- 
viduals were annihilated, and the Confederate Government became a mil- 
itary despotism. Conscription officers issued their requisitions, and there 
was no escape except by flight into the mountains or to the swamps of 
the lowlands. It was this act that filled up the ranks of General Lee, 
and enabled him to drive McClellan from Hichmond, defeat Pope at 
Manassas, invade Maryland, and confront Burnside at Fredericksburg, and 
which enabled Bragg to force Buell back to the Ohio Biver. 

When the war began there were three million nine hundred and fifty 
thousand slaves in the United States. The soldiers of the Northern States 
had not enlisted to liberate them, but to avenge the insult to the flag and 
maintain the Union. We have already seen how the corner-stone began 
to crumble (page 77); how the soldiers began to see that slavery was the 
ctiuse of all the trouble ; how President Lincoln, after the battle of Antie- 
tam, notified the Confederates that if they did not lay down their arms he 
should issue his proclamation on the 1st of January, 1863, giving the slaves 
their freedom. Through the closing months of 1862 slaves in great num- 
bers were making their way into the Union lines, and were no longer 
turned back, but were cordially welcomed. 

On the last night of the year a great crowd of colored people gathered 
in the " Contraband Camp " at Washington. With the last stroke of the 
midnight bell the Year of Jubilee, the great year of the Lord which they 
had looked for, prayed for, waited for, was to begin. They had been 
slaves ; henceforth they were to be free. They knelt and gave thanks to 
God ; they clapped their hands, shouted, and sang : 

"Oh, go down, Moses, 
'Way down into Egypt's land; 
Tell King Pharaoh 

To let my people go. 
Oh, Pharaoh said he would not cross — 

Let my people go; 
But Pharaoh and his host were lost — 

Let my people go." 



THE CLOSE OF 1862. 459 

"Once I cried all night," said a negro, "for the next morning my child 
was to be sold. She was sold. I never expect to see her again. Now, no 
more of dat. We's free. T>ey can't sell wife and child no more. No 
more of dat ; President Lincum has done shot de gate. Dat's what's de 
matter." 

The great multitude shouted "Amen ! Glory hallelujah !" 

This the song they sung : 

"John Brown, the dauntless hero, with joy is looking on, 
From his home among the angels he sees the coming dawn; 
Then up with Freedom's banner and hail the glorious morn 
When the slaves shall all go free." 

The hands of the clock moved on to midnight. The great multitude 
knelt. There was a stillness like the silence of the grave, broken only 
by the bell tolling the hour. The last peal died away along the peaceful 
waters of the Potomac, and they were free. This the prayer of an old 
negro : "Almighty God, bless President Lincoln and all the soldiers." All 
night long they danced and sung. 

From that hour, wherever the Union soldiers marched, the Stars and 
Stripes was not only the emblem of the Union, but of freedom and human 
rights. Only through disaster, defeat, disappointment, through hardship, 
trial, suffering, through the outpouring of the richest wine of life, had the 
people of the North come to a comprehension that the drum-beat of the 
nation, in its final outcome, was to be not only the restoration of the 
Union, but a wiping out of the institution which had brought about 
the war. 

The last week of 1862 beholds the Army of the Cumberland march- 
ing through a wintry storm to fight a desperate battle and win a victory 
in Tennessee. The Army of the Potomac, disheartened by its many de- 
feats and the incompetency of its commanders, is resting upon the Fal- 
mouth Hills, confronted by the Confederate army, which has hurled them 
back from Fredericksburg heights. This the Christmas scene as pictured 
by Private John R. Paxton, out on picket : 

"It was Christmas-day, 1862. 'And so this is war. And I am out 
here to shoot that lean, lank, coughing, cadaverous-looking butternut fel- 
low over the river. So this is war / this is being a soldier. Hello, John- 
ny, what are you up to V The river was narrow, but deep and swift. It 
was a wet cold, not a freezing cold. There was no ice — too swift for that. 

" ' Hello, Johnny, what you coughing so for?' 



460 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

"'Yank, witli no overcoat, shoes full of holes, nothing to eat hut 
parched corn and tobacco, and with this denied Yankee snow a foot deep, 
there is nothin' left, nothw^ hut to get up a cough by way of protestin' 
against this infernal ill-treatment of the body. AVe-uns, Yank, all have a 
cough over here, and there's no sayin' which will run us to hole first, the 
cough or your bullets.' 

" The snow still fell ; the keen wind, raw and fierce, cut to the bone. 
It was God's worst weather, in God's forlornest, bleakest spot of ground, 
that Christmas -day. of '62 on the Rappahannock, a half-mile below the 
town of Fredericksburg. But come, pick up your prostrate pluck, you 
shivering private. Surely there is enough dampness around without add- 
ing to it your tears. 

" ' Let's laugh, boys.' 

'"Hello, Johnny.' 

" ' Hello yourself, Yank.' 

" ' Merry Christmas, Johnny.' 

" ' Same to you, Yank.' 

" ' Say, Johnny, got anything to trade V 

'"Parched corn and tobacco — the size of our Christmas, Yank.' 

" ' All right ; you shall have some of our coffee and sugar and pork. 
Boys, find the boats.' 

" Such boats ! Some Yankee, desperately hungry for tobacco, invented 
them for trading with the Johnnies. They were hid away under the 
banks of the river for successive relays of pickets. 

"AVe got out the boats. An old handkerchief answered for a sail. 
"SVe loaded them with coffee, sugar, pork, and set the sail, and watched 
them slowly creep to the other shore. And the Johnnies? To see them 
crowd the bank, and push and scramble to be first to seize the boats, go- 
ing into the water and stretching out their long arms'. Then when they 
pulled the boats ashore, and stood in a group over the cargo, and to hear 
their exclamations : ' Hurrah for hog !' ' Say, that's not roasted rye, but 
genuine coffee. Smell it, you-uns.' ' And sugar too.' Then they divided 
the consignment. They laughed and shouted, 'Reckon you-uns been good 
to we-uns this Christmas-day, Yanks.' Then they put parched corn, to- 
bacco, ripe persimmons into the boats, and sent them back to us. And 
we chewed the parched corn, smoked real Virginia leaf, ate persimmons 
which, if they weren't very filling, at least contracted our stomachs to the 
size of our Christmas dinner. And so the day passed. We shouted, 
' Merry Christmas, Johnny.' They shouted, ' Same to you, Yank.' And we 



? 



THE CLOSE OF 1«G2. 463 

forgot the biting wind, the chilling cold ; we forgot those men over there 
were our enemies, whom it might be our duty to shoot before evening. 

" We had bridged the river — spanned the bloody chasm. We were 
brothers, not foes, waving salutations of good-will in the name of the Babe 
of Bethlehem, on Christmas-day, in '62. At the very front of the oppos- 
ing armies the Christ Child struck a truce for us — broke down the wall 
of partition, became our peace. We exchanged gifts. We shouted greet- 
ings back and forth. AVe kept Christmas, and our hearts were lighter for 
it, and our shivering bodies were not quite so cold." 

The soldiers of the Union army usually called the Confederates 
"Johnny Rebs." When and where the term was first used, and why, is 
not known. The Confederates called the Union soldiers "Yanks" — the 
abbreviation of Yankee. When the war began the newspapers of the 
South boastingly set forth the superior qualities and Ijraveiy of the Con- 
federate soldiers, and had much to say about their chivahy, and indulged 
in many expressions of contempt for the soldiers of the Union, and em- 
ployed insulting epithets. That period had passed. The men marching 
beneath the Stars and Stripes had exhibited bravery in battle, constancy 
and steadfastness under defeat, and manly qualities which ever win ad- 
miration. 

The Union soldiers, when the war begun, had little doubt of their 
ability to brush the Confederates aside, make their way to Richmond, 
reopen the Mississippi, and re-establish the authority of the United States 
throughout the South. They did not believe that men who were not 
accustomed to labor would be able to endure the hardship and fatigue of 
military campaigns. With the progress of the war egotism, expectation, 
and all illusions passed away. Soldiers from the Xorth and soldiers from 
the South alike had proved their manhood. Respect had taken the place 
of disdain and contempt. There was no personal hatred. The men in 
blue and the men in gray alike were fighting for ideas and jirinciples 
which to them were dearer than life. 

So closes the first j^eriod of the war ; to the Confederacy it was vic- 
tory in the East, defeat in the West, military despotism, conscription, 
wasting of material resources, hopes deferred, fading of expectations, 
future foreboding. To the people of the North, notwithstanding the vic- 
tories west of the AUeghanies and on the Mississippi, it was the period of 
defeat, disaster, disappointment, discipline ; for by these a Divine Prov- 
idence was leading the nation to comprehend that Justice, Liberty, Right- 
eousness are eternal principles which may not be violated with impunity, 
and which are of more value than human life. At Manassas, Fair Oaks, 



464 DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION. 

Malvern, Antietam, Sliiloh, Fredericksburg, Stone River, thousands of 
brave hearts were at rest forever, not only that the Nation might live, the 
Government of the people be preserved, l)ut that Justice, Liberty, and 
Righteousness might be established in tliis AVestern world, and the whole 
human race be lifted to a larger, nobler life. 

The second and third periods will be presented in subsequent volumes. 



dl 



INDEX. 



(C, Confederate ; U, Unvm.) 



Abolitioxists, 15. 

Adams, Charles Francis (U.), 106. 

Adams's brigade (C), 488, 440. 

Address of R. E. Lee (C), 301. 

Alabama, tlie Fifth (C), 406. 

Alabama, the Fourteenth (C), 274. 

Albert, Lieutenant-colonel (U.), 109. 

Alexander, Captain (U.), 96. 

Alexander, Captain (C), 402. 

Alexander, Colonel (U.), 428. 

Alexander, Mr. (C), 30. 

Algebra bj- D. H. Hill (C), 306. 

Algiers, war with, 8. 

Allen's brigade (C), 446. 

Ammen's brigade (U.), 210. 

Anderson, G.'^B. (C), 307. 

Anderson, Patton (C), 207, 360, 431, 432. 

Anderson, Robert (U.), 31, 34, 35, 36, 43, 45, 

46, 69. 
Anderson, R. H. (C), 247, 252. 
Anderson's brigade (C), 207. 
Anderson's division (C), 295. 
Andrew, John A. (U.), 49, 50, 52. 
Andrews, Colonel (U.), 410. 
Andrews, Lieutenant-colonel (U.), 108. 
Angle-land, 1. 

Antietam, battle of, 313; losses in, 332. 
Antislavery agitation, 15. 
Appalachian Mountains, 72. 
Archer's brigade (C), 331, 406. 
Arkansas, secession of, 66. 
Arkansas, the Thirteenth, 437. 
Arlington House, 75. 
Armistead's brigade (C), 274. 
Arms for Missouri Secessionists, 71. 
Armstrong, General (C), 345. 
Army of the Cumberland (U.), 459. 
Army of the Potomac (U.), 236, 393, 459. 
Army of United States (1861), 28. 
Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, 28, 55, 57, 70. 
30 



Artillery, the Fourth I'nited States, 316. 

Asboth, Alexander (U.), 160. 

Asboth's division (U.), 160, 163. 

Ashman, George, 24. 

Aspinwall, Mr., 389. 

Augur, C. C. (U.), 281. 

Ayres's battery (U.), 91, 96, 103, 271. 

Bailey, Captain (U.), 221. 

Bailey, Godard, 32. 

Bailey, Theodorus (U.), 221, 226. 

Baird, Al)salom (U.), 384. 

Baker, Edwin D. (U.), 117. 

Balch, :\[ajor (U.), 97. 

Baldwin, William E. (C), 145, 152. 

Baldwin's brigade (C), 145. 

Baldwin's brigade (IL), 423, 424. 

Ball, Colonel (C), 394. 

Ball's Bluflf, 117. 

Baltimore in 1861, 54, 64. 

Banks, Nathaniel P. (U.), 49, 246, 278, 280, 

287. 
Banks offer money to the L'nited States, 

52. 
Barbarism of slavery, 28. 
Barbee's Cross-roads, 393. 
Barksdale's brigade (C), 346. 
Barlow, Francis C. (U.), 327, 328. 
Barnett's Corner, 347. 
Barnet's battery (U.), 359. 
Barnes's brigade (U.), 294. 
Barron, Commodore (C), 112, 113. 
Barry, W. F. (U.), 101. 
Bartlett's battery (U.), 322. 
Bartow, F. A. (C), 95, 98. 
Bates, Sergeant (U.), 182. 
Baton Rouge, 36. 
Battles (Army): Fort Sumter, 44; Big Bethel, 

78; Rich Mountain, 81 ; Carrick's Ford, 83; 

Blackburn's Ford, 91; Bull Run, 96; Wil- 



466 



INDEX. 



son's Creek, 107; Lexington, Mo., 113; 
Summerville, Ya., 114; Ball's Bluff, 117; 
Belmont, 119 ; Middle Creek, 181 ; Mill 
Springs, 133 ; Fort Donelson, 149 ; Pea 
Ridge, 163 ; Roanoke Island, 176 ; New- 
beru, 182; Fort Macon, 184; New Madrid, 
186; Shilob, 206; Warwick River, 238; 
Yorktown, 240; Williamsburg, 243; Seven 
Pines, 248; Fair Oaks, 25?; Ellison's Mills, 
258 ; Gaines's IVIills, 259 ; Savage Station, 
269; Glendale,270; Malvern Hill, 274; Ce- 
dar Mountain, 281; Manassas Junction, 
285; Broad Run, 285; Groveton, 288; 
Gainesville, 291 ; Manassas, 292; Cbantiliy, 
296 ; Soutb Mountain, 305 ; Crampton's 
Pass, 311; Harper's Ferry, 311; Antietam, 
315; Murfreesboro', 336; Ricbmond, Ky., 
339 ; Sliort Mountain Cross - roads, 340 ; 
McMiuuville, 340 ; Gallatin, 340 , Mun- 
fordsville, 342; luka, 348; Corintb, 352; 
Perryville, 360; Fredericksburg, 396; Harts- 
ville, 415; Stone River, 424; Baton Rouge, 
447; Parker's Cross-roads, 452; Chickasaw 
Bluffs, 453. 
Battles (Navy): Fort Hatteras, 112; Port Roy- 
al, 123; Fort Henry, 136; Fort Donelson, 
149; Monitor and Merri)nac, 165; Roanoke 
Island, 174; Island No. 10, 190; Forts St. 
Philip and Jackson, 222; Memphis, 229; 
Yicksburg, 443; Arkansas and Union fleet, 
444. 

Bayard, George D. (U.), 283, 406. 

Beatty, John (U.), 437. 

Beatty, Samuel (U.), 437. 

Beauregard, G. T. (C), appointed command- 
er at Charleston, 44 ; at Manassas, 86 ; is- 
sues address, 86 ; at Blackburn's Ford, 
91; at Bull Run battle, 95, 96, 98, 102; at 
Corinth, 196, 199, 200; at Shiloh battle, 
206, 211, 215; sends despatch to Richmond, 
216; retreat of, to Tupelo, 226, 334. 

Becker, Major (U.), 1^4. 

Bee, Bernard E. (C), 95, 98. 

Behr, Captain (U.), 207. 

Behr's battery (U.), 207, 308. 

Bell, John, 33. 

Bell, Henry H. (U.), 320. 

Belle Isle, 356. 

Belmont battle, 130. 

Bendix, John E. (U.), 78. 

Benjamin, Judah P. (C), 29, 173. 

Berge, H.W. (U.), 146, 155. 

Berry's brigade (U. ), 244, 249, 354. 

Big Bethel battle, 78. 

Bissell, ColoneUU.). 186. 



Blackburn's Ford, engagement at, 91. 
Blair, Francis P. (U.), 70,71. 
Blair, Montgomery (U.), 378. 
Blockade-runners, 106. 
Bloody Lane, 325. 
Bombardment of Sumter, 43. 
Bonds, Indian Trust, 32, 35. 
Bonham, M. L. (C), 95. 
Boston Mountains, 161. 
Bowen, Major (U.), 163. 
Bowen's brigade (C), 351. 
Bowling Green, 143. 
Boyle, Jeremiah T. (U.), 387. 
Bradley's battery (U.), 437. 
Bragg, Braxton (C), at Corinth, 200: at Shi- 
loh, 305, 207, 211, 315 ; succeeds Beaure- 
gard, 334 ; resolves to invade Kentucky, 
335 ; movement of the army of, 336, 338, 
339,341; at Munfordsville, 343; proclama- 
tion of, 343; attempt of, to establish a State 
government, 344; effect of the movement, 
345; at battle of Perryville, 356; retreat of, 
to Tennessee, 363; at battle of Stone Riv- 
er, 417, 418, 443. 
Branch, F. O. B. (C), 180, 181, 347, 3.56, 258. 
Branch's brigade (C), 296, 331. 
Breckinridge, John C. (C), 23, 200, 416, 420, 

439, 446. 
Breckinridge, Rev. Dr., 69. 
Breshwood, Captain (C), 36. 
Brewster, Elder, 4. 
Brockenbrough's brigade (C), 331. 
Brooks, Colonel (U.), 395. 
Brooks's brigade (U.), 369, 327. 
Brooks's divisions (U.), 404. 
Brown, Captain (U.), 334. 
Brown, Captain (U.), 349. 
Brown, Isaac N. (C), 444. 
Brown, John, 18. 
Brown, Joseph E. (C), 36. 
Buchanan, Frank (C), 168, 169. 
Buchanan, James, 33. 
Buchanan, R. C. (U.), 359, 360. 
Buchanan's brigade (U.), 360. 
Buckland, General (U.), 302, 307. 
Buckner, Simon B. (C), 139, 137, 145, 153, 

155, 1.58. 
Buell, Don Carlos (U.), in Kentucky, 128; 
instructions of, to Garfield, 131 ; at Bowl- 
ing Green, 137, march of, to Pittsburg 
Landing, 199; at battle of Shiloh, 215; at 
Huntsville, 834, 335; retreat of, to Louis- 
ville, 340, 343, 345; at battle of Perryville, 
356, 360. 
Buford, General (U.), 391. 



INDEX. 



467 



Burnard, Alfred, 403. 

Biiruside, Ambrose E. (U.), at Bull Run, 97, 
100, 103 ; iu North Carolina expedition, 172 ; 
at Roanoke Island, 174; at Newbern, 181; 
commands right wing of the Army of the 
Potomac, 303; at battle of South Mount- 
ain, 306; at battle of Antietam, 329; as 
commander of the Army of the Potomac, 
393; in Fredericksburg campaign, 396,404, 
413. 

Burton, Miss, 357. 

Butler, Benjamin F. (U.), talk of, with se- 
cessionists, 49 ; commands Massachusetts 
troops, 51; march of, to Washington, 60; 
at Fortress Monroe, 76 ; at Fort Hatteras, 
113 ; declared slaves contraband of war, 
77, 364, 370; in expedition to New Orleans, 
219, 228. 

Butter field, Daniel (U.), 259, 294, 893. 

Buttrick, Major, 51. 

Cabell's brigade (C), 351. 

Cabinet meeting, 378. 

Cadwallader, George C. (U.), 87. 

Cabin, Colonel (U.), 444. 

Cairo in 1861, 185. 

Caldwell, John C. (U.), 336, 332, 410. 

Calhoun, John C, 10, 11. 

California, settlement of, 14. 

Calls for troops, 104, 278. 

Carey, Miss, 63. 

Carey, Miss Hetty, 63. 

Carlin, William P. (U.), 359, 860, 437, 429. 

Carlisle's battery (U.), 103. 

Carpenter, Mr., 208. 

Carr, E. A. (U.), 160, 163, 164, 272. 

Carrol!, De Rosey (C), 110, 183. 

Carter, General (U.), 417. 

Carter's brigade (U.), 134. 

Casey, Silas (U.), 249, 257. 

Cavaliers, the, 2. 

Ca vender, John (U.), 154, 155, 158. 

Cedar Mountain battle, 280. 

Centreville, evacuation of, 237. 

Chalmers, James R. (C). 210, 315, 343. 

Chautilly battle, 296. 

Chaplin River battle, 356. 

Chapman, G. T. (U.), 260. 

Chase, Salmon P. (U.), 378. 

Cheat Mountain, 114. 

Cheatham, B. F. (C), 200, 305, 360, 420, 429, 

480. 
Chestnut, James, jr. (C), 90. 
Chicago Convention, 34. 
Chickasaw Bluffs battle, 455. 



Christian's brigade (U.), 315. 

Christmas, 1861, 84. 

Christmas, 1863, 457. 

Churchill, T. J. (C), 110. 

Clarke, John B. (C), 109, 284, 446. 

Class distinction, 8. 

Clay, Henry, 6, 9, 10. 

Cleburne, Patrick (C), 207, 420, 421, 427,437. 

Climate, effect of, 6. 

Cobb, Edward (C), 409, 410. 

Cobb, Howell (C), 17, 39, 86. 

Coburn, Colonel, 888. 

Cochrane, John (U.), 867. 

Collins, Sergeant (U.), 411. 

Colman, Mr. (U.), 51. 

Colquitt's brigade (C), 306. 

Columbia artillery (C), 34. 

Columbus seized, 118. 

Commerce with England, 8. 

Confederacy organized, 39. 

Confederate mail route, 89. 

Congressional debates, 376. 

Connecticut Regiment, Seventh, 830; Tenth, 

176; Fourteenth, 410. 
Conscription act (C), 457. 
Conscription of Confederates, 335. 
Conspirators, 29. 
"Contraband Camp, "458. 
Contrabands, 77. 
Cook's brigade (U.), 145, 155. 
Cook's cavalry (U.), 364. 
Cooper's battery (U.), 316. 
Corinth battle, 353. 
Correspondents, 91, 105. 
Cotton shipment, 6. 
Couch, D. N. (U.), 244, 248, 253, 304, 381, 

398. 
Council at Donelson, 156. 
Cox, Jacob D. (U.), 114, 806, 829. 
Crawford, William H., 28. 
Crawford's brigade (U.), 381, 283. 
Crawford's division (U.), 819, 339. 
Crenshaw's battery (C), 406. 
Crittenden, George B. (C), 133. 138, 876. 
Crittenden, Thomas L. (U.), 315, 375, 376, 

418. 
Crocker, Colonel (U.), 345, 846. 
Crockett, Major, 307. 
Crockett, Major (U.), 302, 208. 
Crome, Lieutenant (U.), 306. 
Crook, George (U.), 307, 339. 
Cross, Edward, 337, 410. 
Cruft, Charles (U.), 145, 146, 158, 889. 
Crum's Mill, 356. 
Cumberland, Department of the, 415. 



468 



INDEX. 



Cunningham, Mr.. 96. 

Curtis, Samuel R. (U.). IGO, 161. 

Dana's brigade (U.), 250, 320. 

Daniel, John M. (C), 174. 

Darlington Guards (C), 34. 

Dartnioutii College case, 12. 

Davidson, T.J. (C), 145. 

Davidson's battery (C), 163, 164. 

Davis, Charles H. (U.), 226, 229, 234, 444, 
445. 

Davis, Jefferson (C), senator in Congress, 
22, 29; elected President of the Confeder- 
ac}', 39 ; speech of, at Montgomery, 39 ; ap- 
points Bishop Polk major-general, 118; 
appoints Albert Sidney Johnston to com- 
mand in the West, 129; appoints Van Dorn 
to command West of the Mississippi, 159; 
Davis and Henry A. Wise, 177; talk of, 
■with Beauregard and Johnston, 237 ; con- 
sternation in the President's mansion, 245; 
at battle of Seven Pines, 250; appoints R. 
E. Lee to command, 255; at Murfreesboro', 
416; other mention of, 450, 452, 457. 

Davis's division (U.), 160, 162, 345, 351, 354, 
429, 432. 

Davy, Mr. (U.), 46. 

De Bow's RecieiD, 16. 

De Courcy, General (U.), 455. 

De Joinville, Prince, 236, 254. 

Delaware, the First, 409, 410. 

Democracy, 16. 

Democratic Party in Xew York, 40. 

Dennis, Colonel (U.), 346. 

Dent, Henry (U.), 337. 

Dix, John A. (U.), 86. 

Dodge's brigade (U. ), 163. 

Douovant, Colonel (C), 123. 

Doubleday, Abner (U.), 288, 316, 389, 404. 

Douglas, Stephen A. (U.), 23, 49. 

Douglas's battery (C), 424. 

Douglas's brigade (C), 316. 

Drake's brigade (C), 145, 152. 

Drayton, Percival (U.), 183. 

Drayton. T.F.(C.), 123. 

Driver, Stephen (U.), 1.58. 

Dubois, John V. (U.), 110. 

Duffield, Colonel (U.), 335, 336. 

Duke, Basil W. (C), 70, 145, 416. 

Duncan, J. K. (C), 220. 

Dunham, Colonel (U.), 342. 

Duuker Church, 315. 

Dunlap, George (U.), 328. 

Dunn, Captain (U. ). 401. 

Dupout, Admiral (U.), 123, 374. 



Duryea, Colonel (U.), 78. 
Duryea's brigade (U.), 315. 

Early, Jubal (C), 92, 95, 259, 316. 
Easton's battery (U.), 316. 
Ector's brigade (C), 424, 437. 
Edgarton's battery (U.), 424. 
Edgel's battery (U.), 316. 
Edward's Ferry, 117. 
Ela, Carlton (U.), 193. 
Election, 1862, 418. 
Ellet, Captain (U.), 232, 235. 
EUet, Charles (U.). 231, 232, 235. 
Ellison's Mills, 258. 
Ellsworth, Colonel (C), 337. 
Ellsworth, E. Elmer (U.), 75. 
Emancipation, 455. 

Emancipation of slaves in District of Colum- 
bia, 370. 
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 375, 429. 
Emigrants from Europe, 21. 
Emigration societies, 15. 
Engineer brigade (U.), 396. 
England's attitude, 106. 
Ericsson, John (U.), 166. 
Estvan, B. (C), 180, 183. 
Evans, N. G. (C), 95,97,98. 
Everett's battery (U.), 447. 
Ewell, Richard S. (C), 95, 259, 274, 284, 285, 



Fagan, James T. (C), 211. 

Fair Oaks battle, 248. 

Falmouth Hills, 894. 

Faneuil Hall, 51, 55. 

Farragut, David G. (U.), 219, 443. 

Fealherstone, W. I. (C), 260. 

Ferero's brigade (U.). 411. 

Field's brigade (C), 407. 

Fifth Army Corps, the (U.), 303. 

First Army Corps, the (U.), 303, 393, 404. 

Fitzhugh. George (C), 44. 

Florida Regiment, the Eighth, 396. 

Floyd, J. B. (C), 28, 29, 32, 114, 145, 152, 
155, 158. 

Follansbee, Albert S. (U.), 51, 52. 

Foote, Andrew H. (U.), 137, 146, 150, 154, 
190, 193. 

Forrest, N. B. (C), 335, 452. 

Fort Barrancas, 39 ; Bartow, 174 ; Beaure- 
gard, 123; Clark, 112; Donelson, 129, 143, 
146, 152; Dixie, 180; Henry, 129, 134; Hat- 
teras. 111; Jackson, 220; Macon, 178, 184; 
Magruder, 243; McRae, 39; McHenry, 64; 
Monroe, 75,166; Moultrie, 31; Pickens, 37; 



INDEX. 



469 



Piiickney, 31 ; Powell, 351 ; Pulaski, 36 ; 

Robiuett, 352 ; Richardson, 351; Sumter, 

31; St. Philip, 230; Walker, 123 
Foster, John G. (U.), 175, 181. 
■ Fox's Gap, 306. 
Franklin, William B. (U.), 100, 247, 253, 274, 

304, 321, 328. 
Fredericksburg battle, 403. 
Fremont, J. aiU.), 114. 118, 119, 246, 364. 
French, William H., 269, 303, 321, 326, 393, 

413. 
Frost, Daniel M. (C). 71, 72. 
Fr3e, Colonel (U.), 134. 135, 859. 
Frye's brigade (U.), 359. 
Frye's division (U.), 418. 
Fuller, A. B. (U.), 354, 400. 
Furlough of Confederate troops, 457. 
Fyffe, Colonel (U.), 340, 432, 434, 439, 441. 

Gaines's Mills Battle, 264. 

Gainesville battle, 292. 

Gallatin engagement, 340. 

Gardner, John L. (U.), 31. 

Gareshe, Colonel (U.), 439. 

Garfield, James A., 130, 131. 

Garland's brigade (C). 306. 

Garnett, General (C), 282. 

Garuett, R. S. (C), 81, 83, 84. 

Gates's brigade (C), 348, 351. 

Geary, John W. (U.), 281. 

Georgia Regiment, Third, 375. 

Gerdes, F. H. (U.), 220. 

Germans in St. Louis, 70. 

Gibbon, John (U.), 288, 308, 319, 407. 

Gibbons, John S.,278. 

Gibson, Randal L. (C), 210, 211. 

Gibson's battery (U.), 243. 

Gilbert's Corps (U.), 356, 360. 

Gill more, Quincy A., 378, 380- 

Gilmer, Jeremy F. (C), 137. 

Gist, William H. (C), 29. 

Gladdiu, A. H. (C), 205, 210, 211. 

Gleudale battle, 270. 

Goldsborough, Commodore (U.), 174, 238. 

Gooding's brigade (C), 363. 

Goodspeed, Captain (U.), 427. 

Gorman, W. A. (U.), 249, 250, 261, 281, 320. 

Graham's battery (U.), 328. 

Granger, Gordon (U.), 110, 384. 

Grant, Ulysses S. (U.), at Cairo, 117 ; seizes 
Paducah, 118 ; at battle of Belmont, 120: 
quarters of, at Cairo, 136; at Fort Henry, 
146; at battle of Fort Donelson, 154; at bat- 
tle of Shiloh, 202 ; as commander of the 
Department of West Tennessee, 345, 448. 



Grcblc, John (U.), 78, 81. 
Greeley, Horace (U.), 377. 
Green, Lieutenant (U.), 172. 
Greene, General (U.), 281. 
Greene's brigade (U.), 281. 296. 
Greene's division (U.), 303, 319, 320. 
Greer, E., 110. 
Gregg, Maxcy (C), 260. 
Gregg's brigade (C), 331. 
Greusel, Colonel (U.), 429. 
Grider's brigade (U.), 440. 
Griffin, Charles (U.), 97, 101, 103. 
Griffin's brigade (U.). 260, 263. 
Griffith's brigade (C), 269. 
Grimes, Mr. , 89. 
Grimes, Senator (U.), 370. 
Grose's brigade (U.), 434, 440. 441. 
Grover's brigade (U.), 272. 
Grovetou battle, 290. 
Guion, Captain (C), 184. 
Gulf Stream, the, 6. 
Gunboats at Cairo, 136. 
Gunther's battery (U.), 434. 

Hackleman, p. a. (U.), 352, 353. 

Hale, John P. (U.), 369. 

Hall's, N. A., brigade (U.), 398, 400. 

Halleck, Henry W. (U.), at St. Louis, 14, 137; 
as commander in the West, 197, as milita- 
ry director, 277; order of, to Pope, 279; or- 
der of, to McClellan, 280 ; in Washington, 
285; divides the Western armj^ 334; for- 
bids slaves entering the army, 364; instruc- 
tions of, to McClellan, 389. 

Hamilton, Schuyler (U.), 193, 345, 347, 352. 
354. 

Hamilton's house, 404. 

Hammond, James H. (C), 29, 44. 

Hampton, JMark (C), 353. 

Hampton Roads engagement, 169. 

Hancock, Winfield S., 244, 328, 407, 410. 

Hanks, John, 23. 

Hanks, Nancy, 24. 

Hanover Court-house, 247. 

Hanson's brigade (C), 155, 440. 

Hardee, William J. (C), 107, 200, 206, 211. 
251, 360, 423. 

Harker's brigade (U.), 429, 437. 

Harlan's brigade (U.), 417. 

Harris, Isham G. (C), 140, 169, 216. 

Harris, Matthew (U.), 34. 

Harrison, William H., 10, 69. 

Harrison's Landing, 273. 

Hart, Mr., 82. 

Hart, Peter (U.), 46. 



470 



INDEX. 



Hartford Convention, 10. 

Hartsiiff's brigade (V.), 319. 

Hascall's brigade (U.), 420, 440. 

Hatch, General (U.), 293. 

Hattera.s Inlet, 111. 

Hawes, Richard (C), 343.' 

Hawkins, Colonel (U.), 401. 

Haj'den's batterj' (U.), 163. 

Hayne, Senator, 12. 

Hayne's battery (U.). 807. 

Hays's brigade (C). 296, 407. 

Hazard's battery (U.), 267, 271. 

Hazen,William B. (U.), 420, 433. 

Hebert, Louis (C), 100, 110, 351, 359. 

Heiman, Colonel (C), 143, 145. 

Heintzehnan, Samuel P. (U.), at Bull Run 
battle, 91, 96, 97; at Williamsburg, 237, 
243; on the Chickahominy, 247; at Fair 
Oaks, 254; at White Oak Swamp, 269; at 
Malvern Hill, 274; under Pope, 284; at bat- 
tle of Gainesville, 292. 

Henry House, 95. 

Hill, A. P. (C), at Williamsburg, 243; at Me- 
chanicsville, 258; at Gaines's Mills, 260, 264; 
at Glendale, 271 ; at Malvern, 271 ; on the 
Rappahannock, 279; at Cedar Mountain, 
281, 282; at Ccntreville, 286; at Sudley 
Springs, 288; at battle of Gainesville, 292; 
at battle of Chantilly, 296; at Harper's 
Ferry, 313; at Antielam, 325, 331; at Fred- 
ericksburg, 407. 

Hill, D. H. (C), at battle of Seven Pines, 
248, 254; atMechanicsvilie, 258; at Gaines's 
Mills, 260, 264; at Glendale, 271, 272; at 
Malvern, 274; in Richmond, 283; in Mary- 
land, 306; at battle of South Mountain, 
306, 308; at Antietam, 315, 320, 322, 325, 
332; at Fredericksburg, 395. 

Hillyer, William S. (U.), 154. 

Hindman, Thomas (C), 207, 208. 

Hiscock's battery (U.), 359, 431. 

Hodgson's battery (C), 207. 

Hogan, Tom (U.), 34. 

Hollins, George N. (C), 186. 

Holmes, General (C), 95. 

Home Guards in Missouri (U.), 70, 72. 

Hood's division (C), 264, 283, 295, 315. 

Hooker, Joseph (U.), at Williamsburg, 243; at 
Seven Pines, 253; at Glendale, 271 ; at Mal- 
vern, 274; under Pope, 287, 288, 296; at An- 
tietam, 314, 319, 329 ; at Fredericksburg, 
413. 
Houghtaling's battery (U.), 430, 450. 
Howard, O. O. (U.), 97, 100, 102, 253, 316, 321, 
400,411. 



Howard, Samuel (U.), 121. 

Howe, A. P. (U.), 274, 404, 407. 

Huger, Benjamin (C), 52, 178, 248, 251, 272. 

Humphrey's division (U.), 412. 

Hunt, Henry J. (U.), 274, 275. 

Hunter, David (U.), 91, 95, 97, 374. 

Hunter, R. ^l T. (C), 29. 

Hurlburt, Stephen A. (U.), 200, 206, 216, 345, 

356. 
Hutchinson family, 128. 

Ide.vs, growth of, 8. 

Illinois Regiment, the Twelfth, 198; the Sev- 
enteenth, 149; the Twenty - first, 118, 428; 
the Twenty-second, 418, 430; the Twenty- 
fifth, 164 ;\he Twenty - seventh, 418, 430; 
the Thirty -fourth, 424; the Thirty -fifth, 
348; the Thirty -si.\th, 429 ; the Thirty- 
eighth, 428 ; the Forty -second, 418 ; the 
Forty - fifth, 346 ; the Forty - eighth, 149 ; 
the Fifty-first, 430; tiie Fifty-sixth, 355; the 
Eighty-eighth, 430. 

Imboden's battery (C), 97. 

Immell's batterj^ (U.), 355. 

Indiana cavalry, the Second, 340 ; battery, 
the Seventh, 432 ; Regiment, the Tenth, 
134 ; the Eleventh, 156 ; the Seventeenth, 
342; the Eighteenth, 163; the Nineteenth, 
288, 308 ; the Twenty-first, 446 ; the Twen- 
tj^-second, 113 ; the Twenty-fifth, 155 ; the 
Twenty-ninth, 427; the Thirtieth, 427; the 
Fifty-fourth, 455. 

Indians in the Territories, 159. 

Ingersoll, R. G. (U.), 451. 

Iowa division (U.), 295. 

Iowa Regiment, the Second, 155; the Third, 
164; the Fifth, 348; the Seventh, 155: 
the Tenth, 133, 193, 348 ; the Eleventh, 
156 ; the Fourteenth, 155; the Sixteenth, 
348 ; the Seventeenth, 342 ; the Eight- 
eenth, 163; the Nineteenth, 288; the For- 
ty -eighth, 348 ; the Fifty -sixth, 355 ; the 
Fifty - seventh, 438 ; cavalry, the Second, 
340; the Third, 163. 

Irish brigade, the (U. ), 327. 

Island No. 10, 185, 193. 

luka battle, 347. 

Jackson, Andrew, 10, 13. 

Jackson Camp (C), 72. 

Jackson, Claiborne F. (C), 70, 84. 

Jackson, Mr., 75. 

Jackson, T. J. (Stonewall), at Bull Run, 95; 
1 receives the name of Stonewall, 99; at Port 
I Republic, 256; his ride to Richmond, 258; 



i 



INDEX. 



471 



in consultation with Lee, 358; tlie move- 
ment to Cold Harbor, 264 ; at Savage's 
Station, 270; at Gainesville, 266; at Glen- 
dale, 271; at Malvern Hill, 274; at Louisa 
Court -bouse, 279; bis movement against 
Pope, 286; at Cedar Mountain, 281, 284; 
bis niovement to Manassas, 285, 289; at 
Groveton, 290; at Gainesville, 298, 294; at 
Cbantilly, 296; at Martinsburg, 802; capt- 
ures Harper's Ferry, 312; at Antietam, 813, 
331; in the Sbenandoab Valley, 390; at 
Fredericksburg, 403, 413. 
Jackson's brigade (U.), 405, 407. 
Jameson's brigade (U.), 249, 254. 
Jefferson, Tliomas, 4. 
Johnson, Busbrod R. (C), 145. 
Johnson, R. H. (U.), 340, 418. 
Johnson's battery (C), 406. 
Johnson's brigade (C), 288. 
Johnston, Albert Sidney (C), appointed to 
command, 129; at Bowling Green, 148; his 
retreat to Murfreesboro', 158, 196; at the 
battle of Shilob, 198, 199, 205; his death 
209. 
Johnston, Joseph E. (C), at Harper's Ferry, 
86; bis retreat to Winchester, 87; ordered \ 
to Bull Run, 92; at the battle of Bull Run, I 
96, 98, 103; in Richmond, 237; his retreat | 
from Williamsburg, 245 ; at the battle of 
Seven Pines, 247, 248, 250. 
Jones, Catesby (C), 171. 
Jones, D. R. (C), 331. 
Jones, Edward F. (U.), 51. 
Jones, Lieutenant (U.j, 57. 
Jones, Mr. , 66. 
Jones's battery (U.), 163. 
Jones's brigade (C), 95. 
Jordan, Thomas (C), 200, 216. 

Kearney, Philip (U.), 243, 244, 249, 271, 275, 
277, 280, 293. 

Keitt, Lawrence M. (C), 29. 

Kelley, William D. (U.), 24. 

Kemper's division (C.), 295. 

Kenly, Colonel (U.), 389. 

Kenny's battery (U.), 134. 

Kentucky in 1861, 69. 

Kentucky policy, 383. 

Kentucky Regiment, the Second (U.), 433; 
the Fourth (U.), 134,340; the Fifth (U.),' 
340; the Eighth (U.), 441; the Ninth (U.), 
437,441; the Eleventh (U.), 437, 441; the 
Twelfth (U.), 134; the Fourteenth (U.), 
131; the Twenty-second (U.), 455. 

Kershaw's brigade (C), 269. 



Keyes, Erasmus D. (U.), 97, 100, 237 247 

254, 274. 
Kimball, Nathan (XL), 283, 321, 322, 327, 409. 
King Cotton, 66. 

King's division (U.), 288, 295, 303. 
Kirby's battery (U.), 250, 322. 
Kirk, General (U.), 424, 427. 
Kise, R. C.{U.), 134. 
Koltes, Colonel (U.), 295. 

Labor, degradation of, 22. 
Lacey, Major (C), 55. 
Ladd, Luther (U.), 52. 
Lamar, Mr. (C), 17. 
Landor, F. W. (U.), 82. 
Latham's battery (C. ), 406. 
Lauman, J. G. (.U.), 145, 155. 
Law, General (C), 801, 315. 
Lawton, General (C), 288, 290, 31.5. 
Lee, Henr}^, 4. 

Lee, Robert E. (C), at Harper's Ferry, 19; 
resigns from United States Army, 75; at 
Fair Oaks, 251 ; appointed to command 
the Army of Northern Virginia, 255; or- 
ders Jackson's corps to Richmond, 256; at 
battle of Mechanicsville, 258; at battle of 
Gaines's Mills, 260; movement of, south of 
Chickahominy, 269; at battle of Gleudale, 
271; at battle of Malvern Hill, 273; move- 
ment of, against Pope, 279, 280 ; consoli- 
dates the army, 283; movement of, to Ma- 
nassas, 283, 286 ; at battle of Gainesville, 
298; invasion of Maryland by, 297, 298; 
address of, to people of Maryland, 801 ; at 
Hagerstown, 312; at battle of Antietam, 
313; retires to the Rappahannock, 390; at 
battle of Fredericksburg, 408. 
Lee's Mills engagement, 239. 
Lester, Colonel (U. ), 335, 336. 
Letcher, John (C), 55, 57. 
Lexington, Missouri, engagement, 113. 
Libby Prison, 267. 

Lincoln, Abraham (U.), boyhood of, 23; visit 
of, to New Orleans, 23 ; nominated to the 
Presidency, 24 ; home of, 25 ; journey of, 
to Washington, 42 ; inaugurated as Presi- 
dent, 42 ; proclamation of, for troops, 48 ; 
interview of, with Douglas, 49 ; ridiculed 
by the people of the South, 55, 56 ; pro- 
claims a blockade of Southern ports, 56; 
influence of, in Kentuck}', 69, 70; receives 
a call from Magruder, 77 ; effect of death 
of General Baker on, 118; dissatisfied with 
McClellan's inaction, 236 ; retains troops 
to defend Washington. 237 ; pardon of 



472 



INDEX. 



William Scott by, 240 ; despatch to, from 
McClellan, 370 ; call of, for troops, 278 ; 
revokes Fremont's orders in relation to 
slaves, 364; revokes Hunter's order, 375 ; 
appeal of, to the Border States, 375; mes- 
sage of, to Congress in relation to emanci- 
pation, 375; receives a letter from McClel- 
lan, 375; letter of, to Horace Greeley, 376; 
debates in Congress on Emancipation Proc- 
lamation, 376; receives delegation of min- 
isters, 377 ; first draft of Emancipation 
Proclamation of, 378 ; discussion in the 
cabinet on Proclamation, 378 ; the Presi- 
dent's prayers, 379 ; visit of, to the Army 
of the Potomac, 386 ; instruction of, to 
McClellan, 389: letter of, to McClellan, 
390; removal of McClellan from command 
by, 393. 

Little, Henry (C.),3-t9. 

Logan, John A. (U.), 157. 

Long Bridge, 57, 75. 

Longstreet, James (C), at Blackburn's Ford, 
92; at battle of Bull Run, 95; at Williams- 
burg, 243 ; at Seven Pines, 248, 253; at Me- 
chanicsville, 258, 263, 264 ; at Savage Sta- 
tion, 270 ; at Glendale, 274; movement of, 
to Manassas, 289, 290; at Gainesville, 291, 
294, 295; at Antietam, 313, 325, 326, 327; at 
Culpeper, 390; at Fredericksburg, 402. 

Loomis's battery (U.), 360. 

Lovejoy, Owen (U.), 376. 

Lovell, Mansfield (C), 129, 176. 

Lowell, J R., 19. 

Lynch, Commodore (C), 174. 

Lyon, Nathaniel P. (U.), 71, 72, 84, 107, 111. 

Mackall, W. W. (C), 185, 194, 195. 
Macy, Captain, 400. 
Magilton's brigade (U.), 405, 407. 
Magruder, John B. (C), 77, 78, 238, 243, 258, 

263, 269, 271, 274. 
Maine Regiment, the Sixth, 244; the Tenth, 

282; the Fourteenth, 446. 
Mallory, Charles (C), 77. 
Mallory, Stephen R. (C), 29. 251. 
Malvern Hill battle, 273. 
Manassas battle, 294. 
Manigault's brigade (C), 431. 
Mansfield's corps (U.), 303, 314, 319, 329. 
Manson, M. D. (U.), 134, 339. 
Maney's battery (C), 149. 
Mauey's brigade (C), 431. 
Mason, Captain (U.), 203. 
Mason, James M. (C), 29. 
Mass meeting in New York, 52. 



Massachusetts battery, the Sixth, 446; Regi- 
ment, the Sixth, 51 ; the Eighth, 60 ; the 
Tenth, 249; the Twelfth, 407; the Thir- 
teenth, 117 ; the Fifteenth, 321, 322 ; the 
Sixteenth, 272, 400 ; the Nineteenth, 398 ; 
the Twentieth, 398, 400 ; the Twenty-first, 
178, 330; the Twenty -fourth, 181; the 
Twenty -seventh, 176; the Thirtieth, 446; 
the Thirty-first, 330; the Thirty-fifth, 330; 
the Forty-third, 176; the Forty-fourth, 176. 

Marcy, R. B. (U.), 117. 

Markham engagement, 393. 

Marshall, Colored (U.), 281. 

Marshall House, 75. 

Marshall, Humphrey (C), 129, 130, 132. 

Marston, Gilman (U.), 97. 

Martin, Knott V. (U.), 50. 

Martindale, John H. (U.), 259, 275, 281. 

Maryland Invasion, 298. 

Maryland Regiment, the Second (U.), 329. 

Matthews, Mr., 95. 

Matthews, Stanley (U.), 337. 

Maury, General (C), 420. 

Maury's brigade (C), 351 

Maxey, Captain (U.), 420. 

Maynadier, H. E. (U.), 190, 233, 344. 

McAllister's battery (U.), 153. 

McArthur, John G. (U.), 145, 352. 

McBride, J. H. (C), 109. 

McCall, G. A. (U.), 255, 260, 271, 

McCauley, Captain (U.), 57. 

McCausland, John (C), 145. 

McClellan, George B. (U.), appointment of, 
as major-general, 81; at Rich Mountain, 
83; appointment of, as commander-in- 
chief, 84 ; meets newspaper correspondents, 
105; in Ball's Bluff affair, 117, 118; order 
of, relating to slaves, 128; inaction of, 128; 
plan of movement of, to Richmond, 237; 
at Yorktown, 238; at battle of William.s- 
burg, 243; on the Chickahominy, 247; at 
battle of Seven Pines, 248; at battle of 
Fair Oak.s, 253 ; at battle of Mechanics- 
ville, 258; movement of, to James Ri%'er, 
269 ; despatch of, to Secretary Stanton, 270; 
Lee's opinion of, 301 ; reorganization of 
army by, 303 ; at Rockville, 303 ; move- 
ment of, to South Mountain, 304; loss of, 
at Turner's Gap, 308; at Antietam, 313, 314, 
326, 328, 329, 332, 333; after Antietam, 386; 
opposition of, to President Lincoln's proc- 
lamation of emanoipation, 386 ; Stuart's raid 
to Chambersburg, 389 ; receives a letter 
from the President, 390; moves into Vir- 
ginia, 390 ; plan of, for operations of 



I 



INDEX. 



473 



army, 393; removal of, from command, 
393. 

McClernand, John A. (U.), 143, 153, 200. 210. 

McCluny's battery (C), 133. 

McCook, A. McD. (U.), 134, 215, 264. 356, 
359, 360. 415. 421. 

McCowu's division (C). 422, 430. 

McCullocb, Ben. (C), 37, 107, 110. 160. 

McDowell, Irwin (U.). command of, at Bull 
Run, 75, 86, 88. 90. 91,98, 100; at Freder- 
iclvsburg, 238, 247, 256; at Manassas. 278, 
290, 291. 

McGoffln. Beriah (C), 70. 

Mcintosh, General (C). 110. 163. 

Mcintosh's battery (C). 406. 

McKean's division (U.), 345, 351, 354. 

McLaws's division (C). 264, 283, 302, 395. 

McLean's brigade, 295, 351. 

McMullin's battery (U.). 306. 

McNair's brigade (C. ). 424. 434. 

McPherson. J. B. (U.), 212, 345. 351. 355. 

Meade, G. C. (U.). 271, 303. 315. 404. 

Meagher, Thomas F. (U.), 253, 264, 326, 410. 

Mechanicsviiie battle, 258. 

Memminger, Charles G. (C), 20, 21, 29. 

Memphis engagement, 230. 

Mendenhall, Captain (U.), 215, 216, 439. 

Meredith, Solomon (U.), 308. 

Michigan Regiment, the First, 102 ; the 
Fourth, 348; the Si.xth, 446; the Seventh, 
348 ; the Ninth, 335, 336 ; the Twenty- 
first, 430; the Fourth Cavalry, 420. 

Middle Creek battle, 131. 

Miles, Colonel (U.), 91, 103, 308. 311. 

Militia of Virginia, 87. 

Mill Springs battle, 132, 135. 

Miller, Major (U.), 409. 

Miller's brigade (U.), 441. 

Miller, Captain, 340. 

Miller, Dr., 314. 

Miller, FitzHugh, 312. 

Milroy's brigade (U.), 290. 

Minnesota Regiment, the Second. 1.33 ; the 
Third. 335, the Fourth. 348; the Fifth^ 3.55. 

Mississippi Regiment, the Seventeenth, 395; 
the Eighteenth, 395, the Twenty -first, 
175; the Thirtieth, 175. 

Missouri Compromise, 14. 

Missouri Regiment, the First (U.), 108, the 
Second (U.), 164 , the Third, 109, 375 ; the 
Fourth. 348 , the Fifth. 109 , the Sixth, 
455 ; the Seventh, 346 ; the Eighth, 156 ; 
the Eleventh. 355 , the Twelfth, 164 ; the 
Twenty-fifth, 206; the Twenty-si.x'th, 348; 
the First Cavalry, 163. 



Mitchell, O. M. (U.). 143, 360, 418. 

Monitor, the (C), 171. 

Montgomery, Commodore (C), 226, 230. 

Montgomery Convention (C.), 233. 

Montgomery Guards (C). 113. 

Moore, Colonel, 205, 416. 

Moorhead, Colonel (U.), 400. 

Morgan, Colonel, 184, 186. 

]\Iorgan, J. H. (C), 336. 338, 415. 416. 

Morgan's division (U.), 454. 

Morrill, G. W. (U.), 259. 

Morrill's division (U.), 251. 

Morris, General (U.), 81. 

Morris, Lieutenant (U.), 168. 

Morris's brigade (U.), 322, 351. 

Morrison, Colonel (U.). 145. 189. 

Mower's brigade (U.). 353. 

Muldraugh's Hill. 417. 

Mulligan. J. A. (U.), 113. 

Muma, Mr., 313. 

Munfordsville engagement, 342, 416. 

Murphy. General (U.), 346.452. 

Muskets sent South, 28. 

"My Maryland," 63. 

N.\GLEE'S BRIGADE (U.), 249, 271, 411. 

Nashville convention, 17. 

Nashville evacuation, 157. 

Navy, United States, in 1861. 27. 

Navy yard at Norfolk, the. 58. 

Needham. Sumner H. (U.), 52. 

Negley's brigade (U.), 418. 

Negley's division (U.), 432. 449. 

Nefson, William (U.), 199, 204, 339. 

Nelson's division (U.), 202, 210, 215, 336, 339. 

Nelson's farm, 270. 

New Cold Harbor, 263. 

New Hampshire Regiment, the Fifth, 327, 
410; the Sixth, 330. 

New Jersey Cavalry, the Eighth, 311; the 
Ninth, 176. 

New Madrid, 186. 

New Orleans, 66, 222. 

New York Regiment, the Fourth, 410; the 

' Seventh, 59 ; the Tenth, 410 ; the Four- 
teenth, 101; the Fifty-first, 339; the Six- 
ty-first, 327. the Sixty -fourth, .327 ; the 
Seventy-sixth. 288 ; the Ninety-fifth, 288 ; 
the Ninety - seventh. 407 ; the One Hun- 
dred and Eighth, 410. 

Newbern battle, 182. 183. 

Newspapers . the Boston Courier, 374 ; the 
Charleston Courier, 41, 75; the Charleston 
Mercury, 28, 36; the London Times. 106; 
the Louisville Journal, 379 ; the Memphis 



474 



INDEX. 



Appeal, 186; the Memphis Argus, 190; the 
Mobile Advertiser, 28, 84; the New York 
Tribune, 41; the Richmond Whig, 28, 265; 
the Richmond Despatch, 246 ; the Rich- 
mond Examiner, 363. 

Newton's division, 404, 407. 

Nichols's resolutions, 8. 

Nicodemus, Mr., 814. 

Ninth Corps, the, 303, 304, 308, 314, 336, 417. 

North Carolina Regiment, the Thirteenth, 
307; the Twentieth, 306, 307; the Twen- 
ty-third, 307, 308. 

Northern men in Southern States, 27. 

Novelty Works, the, 166. 

Oglesby, Richard J. (U.), 123, 145. 153, 353. 

Ohio brigade, the, 3.54; the Fourth Regiment, 
409, the Eighth, 409 ; the Ninth, 135 ; the 
Tenth, 355, the Tenth battery, 352; the 
Eleventh, 348, the Twelfth, 307; the Thir- 
teenth, 307; the Sixteenth, 455; the Eigh- 
teenth, 340; the Nineteenth, 433, 437, 441 ; 
the Twenty -sixth, 340 ; the Twenty-sev- 
enth, 354 ; the Thirty-third, 354; the Thir- 
ty-eighth, 134; the Thirty -ninth, 354; the 
Fortieth, 131; the Forty -second, 131 ; the 
Forty-third, 354, 355 ; the Fifty-first, 441 ; 
the Fifty-third, 207, 354, 355 ; the Sixty- 
third, 352, 354 ; the One Hundred and 
First, 428. 

"Old Abe," 353. 

Old Glory, 158. 

Oliver's brigade (U.), 352. 

"On to Richmond," 87, 395. 

Opinion in the Southern States, 41. 

Ord, Edward O. C. (U.), 345, 347, 349, 356. 

Order to bombard Sumter, 43. 

Ordinance of 1787, 5. 

Orr, James L. (C), 27,-29. 

Osterhaus, Peter J. (U.), 108, 160, 163. 

Otis, Captain (U.), 432. 

Owens's battery (U.), 322. 

Owens's brigade (U.), 400. 

Paducah, seizure of, 118. 

Paine, General (U.), 186, 189. 

Palmer, Rev. Dr. (C), 16. 

Palmer's division (U.), 416, 418, 429, 434. 

Palmetto Guard (C), 43. 

Panic at Bull Run, 102. 

Parke, J. G.(U.), 175, 176, 184. 

Parson's battery (U.), 360. 

Parsons, Monroe M. (C), 109. 

Patterson. Robert (U.), 87, 89, 90. 

Paulding, Hiram (U.), 166. 



.-b^"^ 



Paxton, John R. (U.), 459. 

Pea Ridge battle, 161. 

Peace Congress, 43 

Pearce, N. B. (C), 110. 

Peck's brigade (U.), 244. 

Pegram, John (C), 81, 82, 406. 

Pelham's battery (C), 306, 389. 

Pemberton, General (C), 450. 

Pender's brigade (C), 331, 404. 

Peninsular campaign, the, 239. 

Pennsylvania Regiment, the Fifth, 272 ; the 
Seventh. 340 ; the Eighth, 272 ; the Thir- 
teenth, 410; the Forty-sixth, 188; the For- 
ty-seventh, 245 ; the Fifty -first, 330; the 
Sixty-ninth, 272; the Seventy-second, 321; 
the Seventy-seventh, 424; the Eighty-first, 
323; the Eighty-eighth. 407; the One Hun- 
dred and Sixth, 400; the One Hundred and 
Eighth, 410; the Tenth Cavalry, 272, 314. 

Perkins, Captain (U.), 353. 

Perry's brigade (C), 396. 

Perryville battle, 369. 

Pet names, 198. 

Pettigrew, Mr. (U.), 33. 

Pettit's battery (U.), 207, 253, 267, 271, 394. 

Phelps, S. S. (U.), 233. 

Phelps's brigade (U.), 316. 

Phifer's brigade (U.), 351. 

Philbrick. Major. 321. 

Phillips, Wendell (U.), 19. 

Pickens, Francis W. (C), 29, 34, 47. 

Pierce. Ebenezer W. (U.), 78. 

Pierce, Franklin, 40. 

Pierpont, F. H. (U.), 75. 

Pike, Albert (C), 159, 160, 161, 163. 

Pilgrims, 3. 

Pillow, Gideon J. (C), 143, 152, 153, 155. 

Piney's battery (U.), 427. 

Pittsburg Landing, 199. 

Pleasanton, Alfred (U.), 313. 

Plummer, Joseph B. (U.), 108, 110, 186. 

Plunkett, Sergeant (U.), 411. 

Political situation, the, in 1862, 417. 

Polk, Leonidas (C), 118, 129, 137, 185, 200, 
360, 438. 

Polk's brigade (C), 428, 432. 
Pond's brigade (C), 215. 
Pope, John (U.), at New Madrid, 185, 190. 
193, 195 ; in Virginia, 278, 290, 293, 294, 
295, 297. 
Port Royal engagement, 123. 
Port Tobacco, 89. 
Porter, Andrew (U.), 97, 100. 
Porter, Captain W. D. (U.), 140, 445. 
Porter, David D. (U.), 220: 



I 



INDEX. 



475 



Porter, Fitz-Jolin, under Patterson, 87, 89, 
90; as commander of a corps, 237; in en- 
gagement at Hanover Court-house, 247; in 
battle of Meclianicsville, 258; in battle of 
Gaines's IMills, 263, 264 ; at White Oak 
Swamp, 265; at Malvern Hills, 274; under 
Pope, 284, 287, 291, 303; at Antietam, 328, 
332. 

Post's brigade (U.), 427 

Powell, General (C), 357. 

Prentice, Captain, 372. 

Prentis, Rev. Mr. (C), 35. 

Prentiss, General (U.), 200, 206, 207, 210. 

Preston, General (C), 344, 438. 

Price, Sterling (C), 107, 113, 162, 346, 348. 

Prince's brigade, 281. 

Privateers, 56. 

Proclamation of South Carolina, 13; of Jef- 
ferson Davis, 56; of Earl Van Doru, 159; 
of President Lincoln, 378. 

Pryor, Roger A. (C), 44, 252, 260. 

Queen Anne and the slave-trade, 4. 
Queen City, the, 229. 

Rains,J.E. (0,109. 

Rains's brigade (C), 436. 

Randall, James R. (C), 60. 

Randall's battery (U.), 134, 272. 

Ransom's division (C), 395. 

Rawlins.J. A. (U.), 153,212. 

Reed, Captain (U.), 267. 

Reed, William (U.), 267. 

Regulars, United States, 97, 434. 

Reid, J. G. (U.), 110. 

Reno, James L. (U.), 175, 176. 

Reno's division (U.), 283, 287, 293, 296, 306, 

308. 
Repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 15. 
Republican party, the, 24, 27. 
Retreat of Pope, 277; of McClellan, 280; of 

Lee. 390 ; of Bragg, 442. 
Revenue, collection of, 13. 
Reynolds, John (U.), 97, 114, 258, 271, 287, 

290, 393, 418. 
Rhett, Robert Barnwell (C), 21, 29. 
Rhode Island Regiment, the Second (U.), 97. 
Rice, Lieutenant^U.), 249. 
Rich Mountain battle, 83. 
Richardson, Israel B. (U.), 91, 253, 323. 
Richmond Blues, the (C), 177. 
Richmond, scenes in, 245, 266. , 

Ricketts, James B. (U.), 97, 100, 103. 
Ricketts's division (U.), 287, 289, 303, 308, 315. 
Ripley, R. S. (C), 315, 373. 



Roanoke Island battle, 174, 176. 

Roaring Creek, 81. 

Roberts, General (U.), 194, 281, 282. 

Roberts's brigade (U.), 430. 

Robertson, Judge (C), 381, 383. 

Robertson's battery (U.), 306, 438. 

Rodman's division (U.), 303, 329. 

Rogers, Colonel (C), 355. 

Ro.secrans, William S. (U.), in West Virginia, 
81; at Rich Mountain, 83; in skirmish at 
Summerville, 114 ; as commander of the 
Army of the Mississippi, 345; in battle of 
luka, 347, 349, 351 ; in battle of Corinth, 
354; succeeds Buell, 413; advance of, from 
Nashville, 418 ; in battle of Stone River, 
421,429,436. 

Ross, John (C), 163. 

Rosseau, L. H. (U.), 360, 434. 

Rosser's cavalry (C), 291. 

Rothschild, Baron, 105. 

Ruffln, Edmund (C), 44. 

Ruggles's brigade (C), 446. 

Rulet, Mr., 313. 

Runyon, Theodore (U.), 91. 

Russell & Co., 32. 

Rust's brigade (C), 351. ■ 

Sacket, Major (U.), 329. 

Sailors seized by England, 9. 

Saloman, C. E. (U.), 109. 

Savage Station battle, 266, 269. 

Scammou's brigade (U.), 306. 

Schenck, Robert (U.), 103, 290. 

Schoepf's division (U.), 132, 360. 

School-teachers, 28. 

Schurz's, Carl, division (U.), 290. 

Schwartz's battery (U.), 153. 

Scott, George (U.), 78. 

Scott, William (U.), 240. 

Scott, Wiufield (U.), 58, 65, 75, 87, 88. 

Scott's cavalry (C), 342. 

Sears, Lieutenant (U.), 348. 

Secession of States, 30. 

Second Corps (U.), 303. 411. 

Seddon, John (C), 29, 250. 

Sedgwick's division (U.), 249, 267, 271,272, 

303,321. 
Semmes, Raphael (C), 40, 41,66. 
Seven Pines battle, 248. 
Seward, William H. (U.), 85, 378. 
Seymour's brigade (U.). 258, 271. 
Sharpsburg, movement to, 312. 
Shaw, Colonel (C). 176. 
Shepard, Colonel (U.),434. 
Sheridan, Philip (U.), 359, 360, 361, 423, 430. 



470 



INDEX. 



Sherman, Thomas W. (U.), 123. 
Sherman, William T. (U.), at Bull Run, 97, 
100, 102; at Shiloh, 200, 205, 207, 210; on 
the Mississippi, 345 ; at Vicksburg, 450, 
456. 
Shields, James (U.), 283. 
Shiloh battle, 198, 206. 

Ships: Alabama (C.),66; Arkansas (C.),444, 
457; Beauregard (C), 226; Benton (U.), 136, 
190, 226, 229, 445; Boston (U.), 60; Bragg, 
(C), 226; Brooklyn (U.), 29, 221 ; Cairo (U.), 
229; Carondelet (U.), 136, 140, 146, 150,229, 
445; Cayuga (U.), 221; Cincinnati (U.), 136, 
139,445; Clifton (U.), 444; Colorado (U.), 
219; Columbia (U.), 58; Columbus (U.), 58; 
Conestoga (U.), 150; Congress (U.), 168; 
Constitution (U.), 10, 60; Commercial (U.), 
385; Cossack (U.), 182; Cumberland (U.), 
58, 112, 168; Curlew (C), 174; Dauntless 
(British), 179; Delaware (U.), 58; Eastport 
(0,140; Enchantress (U.), 372; Essex (U.), 
136, 140, 445; Galena (U.), 246, 275; Gold- 
en Gate (U.), 198; Guerriere (British), 10, 
12; Harriet Lane (U.), 112; Hartford (U.), 
221; Highlander (U.),182; Iroquois (U.), 
221; Itasca (U.), 221; Jeflf Davis (C), 370, 
372; Jessie Benton (U.), 226; Katahdin (U.), 
221; Kennebec (U.), 221; Kinea (U.), 221; 
Lexington (U.), 211; Louisiana (C), 218; 
Louisville (U.), 150, 229, 445; Lowell (C), 
226; Manassas (C), 218; Maryland (U.), 
60; Mayflower, 3; Merrimac (C), 57, 165, 
168, 246; Minnesota (U.), 112, 168; Missis- 
sippi (U.), 221; Monarch (U.), 229; Moni- 
tor (U.), 168 ; Monticello (U.), 112; Nash- 
ville (C), 179; Oneida (U.), 221; Onward 
(U.), 374 ; Pawnee (U.), 75, 112 ; Pennsyl- 
vania (U.), 58; Pensacola (U.), 219, 221; 
Pinola (U.), 221; Pittsburg (U.), 150, 194; 
Planter (C), 373; Price (C), 224; Quaker 
Citv (U.), 112; Queen City (U.), 229, 231, 
232; Queen of the West (U.), 444; Rari- 
tan (U.), 58; Rebel (C), 224; Relief (U.), 
29; Richmond (U.),221; Sciota (U.), 221; 
Southfield (U.), 174; Star of the West (U.), 
86; Stars and Stripes (U.), 174; St. Law- 
rence (U.), i68; St. Louis (U.), 136, 140, 150, 
190, 194, 229 ; Sumter (C), 226 ; Susque- 
hanna (U.), 112, 123; Taylor (U.), 150; 
Teaser (C.),168; Thompson (C), 226; Tus- 
carora (U.), 179; Tyler (U.), 211, 444; Un- 
cle Sam (U.), 157 ; Van Dorn (C), 226 ; 
Varuna (U.), 221 ; Virginia (Merrimac) 
(C), 165 ; Wabash (U.), 112, 123; Wander- 
er (C), 17; Waring (U.), 370, 372; War- 



rior (U.), 179; Winona (U.), 221; Wissa- 

hickon (U.), 221; Zouave (U.), 168. 
Sickles, D.E.(U.), 252. 
Sickles's division (U. ), 404. 
Sigel, Franz (U.), 107, 108, 160, 165, 278, 286, 

290. 
Sill's brigade (U.), 422, 429. 
Simmons, Colonel (U.), 271. 
Simonson's battery (U.), 860. 
Simonton's brigade (C), 152. 
Sinclair's brigade (C), 405, 407. 
Sixth Corps (U.). 393. 
Slack, William J. (C). 109. 
Slade's brigade (C), 109. 
Slavery, introduction of, 2. 
Slaves in the United States, 457. 
Slave-trade, 4, 7, 8, 18, 27. 
Slemmer, Adam J. (U.), 87. 
Slidell, JohnlC). 29. 
Slocum, Henry W. (U.), 97, 260, 285, 328. 
Small, Robert (U.), 373, 374. 
Smith, A. J. (U.), 453. 
Smith, Charles F. (U.), 119, 120, 143, 145, 155, 

158. 
Smith, E. Kirby (C), 102, 838, 344. 
Smith, Gustavus W. (C), 248, 250. 
Smith, Joseph (U.), 170. 
Smith, Lieutenant-colonel (U.), 417. 
Smith, Morgan L. (U.), 143, 145, 156, 157. 
Smith, Rev. Mr. (U.). 240. 

Smith, William F. (U. ), 239, 244, 271, 322, 328, 
393. 

Smith's, M. L., division (U.), 456. 

Sneed, Thomas L. (C), 107. 

South Carolina Regiment, the Fourteenth, 
267. 

South Carolina, secession of, 30. 

South Mountain battle, 306. 

Southern slave-market, 21. 

Sovereignty of the States, 11. 

Stafford's brigade (C), 288. 

Stanley, David S. (U.), 186, 303, 345. 347, 354, 
442. 

Stanton, Edwin M. (U.), 237. 

Starke, General (C), 290, 316. 

Starkweather's brigade (U.), 360. 

Steamboats on the Ohio, 340. 

Stearns, Frazer A. (U.), 182. 

Steedman's brigade (U.), 368. 

Steele's division (U.), 453. 

Stephens, Alexander H., 30, 31, 96. 

Stevens, J. J. (U.), 296. 

Stevens, Mrs., 411. 

Stevens's battery (U.), 437. 

Stewart, Captain (U.), 244. 



INDEX. 



477 



Stewart, Charles, 10. 

Stewart, Lieutenant (U.), 308. 

Stewart's brigade (C), 432. 

St. Michael's Church, 30. 

Stokes's battery (U.), 434 

Stone River battle, 423. 

Stoneraan (U.), 243, 405. 

Stringham, Commodore (U.), 112. 

Stuart. J. E. B. (C), 255. 285, 289, 303, 404. 

Stuart's brigade (U.), 201. 

Sturgis's division (U.), 303. 

Sudley's Mills, 92. 

Sullivan, General (U.), 452. 

Sullivan's brigade (U. ), 353, 354. 

Sumner, Edwin V. (U.), 237, 247, 250, 254, 

260. 269, 321, 369, 893, 395, 413. 
Sumter, Fort, 47. 
Supreme Court decision, 12. 
Swan wick, Lieutenant- colonel (U.), 419. 
Sykes, George (U.), 97, 260, 264, 274, 295. 

Tai,i.\ferro, General (C), 281, 288. 

Taliaferro, Lieutenant (U.), 419, 431. 

Taliaferro's division (C), 405. 

Tammany Regiment (U. ). 117. 

Tanner, Corporal (U.), 296. 

Taritf bill,12. 

Tatnall, Josiah (C), 123, 246. 

Taylor, Captain (U.), 207, 208. 

Taylor, Charles H. (U.), 52. 

Taylor's battery (U.), 153, 207. 

Taylor's brigade (U.), 285. 

Taylor's farm, 395. 

Temple's battery (C), 440. 

Tennessee, Army of (U.), 345. 

Tennessee Regiment, the First (U.), 134; the 

Second (U.), 134. 
Tenney, Matthew (U.), 169. 
Terrill's battery (U.), 215, 216. 
Ten-ill's brigade (U.), 216, 860. 
Thaver, John M. (U.), 146, 153, 154. 
Third Corps (U.), 393. 
Thomas, George H. (U.), 132, 415, 418, 429, 

438. 
Thompson, Captain (U.), 215. 
Thompson, Jacob (C), 29, 36. 
Thompson, M. J. (C), 119. 
Thompson's battery (U.), 322, 326. 
Thorn well, J. H. (C), 16. 
Tillman, William, 370. 
Tishomingo Hotel, 355. 
Tobin, Captain (C), 354. 
Tom, the slave, 174. 

Toombs, Robert (C), 29, 30, 295, 329, 331. 
Totten's battery (U.), 108, 110. 



Trade in the North, 41. 
Trimble, General (C), 288, 296, 315. 
Trimble's brigade (C. ), 406, 407. 
Troops called for (U.), 457. 
Turner's Gap battle, 306. 
Turnham, David, 23. 
Twelfth Corps (U.), 303, 319. 
Twiggs, David E. (C), 37. 
Tyler, Captain (U.), 77. 
Tyler, Daniel (U.), 91, 95, 96. 
Tyler, John, 29. 

United States Fourth Artillery, 316. 
Utley, Colonel (U.), 380, 383, 384, 385. 

Van Cleve, General (U.), 350, 353, 418, 

427, 434, 440. 
Van Dorn, Earl (C), 159, 160, 164, 452. 
Vandever, William (U.), 163. 
Vaughn's brigade (C), 429. 
Vermont brigade, 328. 
Vermont Regiment, the Third, 239 ; the 

Fourth, 239; the Fifth, 270; the Seventh, 

446. 
Vigilance Committee (C), 27. 
Villepique's brigade (C), 351. 
Virginia, secession of, 56 ; the Thirtj"- first 

Regiment of, 102; the Fifty-fifth, 272; the 

Sixtieth, 272. 

Waldron's Ridge, 341. 

Walke, Henry (U.), 194, 444. 

Walker, L. P. (C), 52. 

Walker's brigade (C), 316, 407, 408. 

Wallace, Lewis (U.), 143, 146, 156. 200, 203, 

210, 215, 340. 
Wallace, W. H. L. (U.), 14.5, 153, 200, 200, 

207, 210, 215. 
Warren, G. R. (U.), 2. 
Warren's brigade (U.), 260. 
Washington Artillery (C), 218. 
Washington jail, 367. 
Washington, ]\Iajor (C), 248. 
Washington, Sir John, 2. 
Waterhouse's battery (U.), 207. 
Watson, B. F. (U.), 51. 
Watson, Mr. (C), 89. 
Weber, Colonel (U.), 113. 
Weber's brigade (U.), 322. 
Webster, Daniel, 12. 
Webster, Fletcher (U. ), 275. 
Webster, J. D. (U.), 136, 154, 210. 
Webster's brigade (U.), 322, 325, 360. 
Weigel, Captain (U.), 112. 
West Virginia, 69. 



478 



INDEX. 



AVetmore's battery (.U.). 134. 

Wbarton, Colonel (C), 145. 

Wheat, C.R.(C.), 97. 

Wheeler's battery (U.), 244. 

Wheeler's cavalry (C), 274, 420, 422. 

White, M.J. (C), 184. 

White Oak Swamp battle, 267. 

White's brigade (C), 164. 

Whiting, Major (C), 92. 

Whiting, W. H. C. (C), 257, 259. 

Whiting's division (C), 254, 258. 

Whitney, Addison O. (U.), 52. 

Whitney, Eli, 6. 

Whittier, J. G. (U.), 244. . 

Wigfall, Louis (C), 29, 46. 

Wilcox, Cadmus (C), 260, 295. 

Wilcox, Orlando B. (U.), 97, 100, 102, 303, 

393. 
Wilcox's division (U.), 303, 329. 
Wilder, Colonel (U.), 342. 
Williams, Captain (U.), 354. 
Williams, General (U.), 319, 445. 
Williams's division (U.), 281. 
Williamsburg battle, 243. 
Willich's brigade (U.), 424, 429. 
Wilson.Henry (U.), 49, 369. 
Wilson's Creek battle, 107. 
Winder's brigade (C), 282. 



Winthrop, Theodore (U.), 78. 

Wisconsin Regiment, the Second, 315, 446-; 
the Fourth, 446; the Fifth, 428; the Sixth, 
288, 315 ; the Seventh, 288 ; the Twelfth 
battery, 348; the Twenty-second, 381, 384, 
385. 

Wise, Captain (C), 177. 

Wise, Henry A, (C), 19, 29, 172, 177. 

Withers, General (C), 442. 

Withers's division (C), 423. 

Wood, Captain (U.), 153, 154. 

Wood, Fernando, 40. 

Wood, T J. (U.), 207, 211, 420, 429. 

Wood's brigade (C), 428, 431. 

Woodbury, General (U.), 396. 

Woodruff, Captain (U.), 110. 

Woodruff, William E. (U.), 110. 

Woodruff's brigade {U.),429. 

Worden, John L. (U.), 171. 

Wright, G. S. (U.), 352. 

Yancy,W. L. (C), 29. 
Yates, Governor (U.), 118. 
Year of Jubilee, 457. 
Yorktown, siege of, 240, 243. 

ZoLLicoFFER, Felix (C), 129, 132, 135. 
Zook's brigade (U.), 410. 
Zouaves (U.), 75, 78, 101. 



II 



THE END. 



II 



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